Embattled French midfielder Paul Pogba has insisted that he is not finished as a professional footballer and shrugged off any suggestion that he could retire, despite being alleged to face a four-year ban for doping.
Pogba, 31, has not played since August 2023 and is currently waiting on a date from the Court of Arbitration for Sports, through which he has made an appeal to have his ban reduced to a two-year suspension. He received a suspension earlier this year for returning positive doping tests twice: the A sample and then the B sample.
“If people haven’t seen an interview in which I say I’m retiring, it means that …. It’s because I still feel like a footballer,” Pogba said to Sky Italia in Dusseldorf on Monday where he attended France’s 1-0 win against Belgium in the Euro 2024 round of 16.
“I want to fight this injustice.”. An interview came out—I don’t know if you’ve seen it all. They put something that … I hadn’t finished talking. Pogba isn’t finished; Pogba is here, and until you see me say that I’m finished, don’t you worry. I feel an incredible desire to come back—I feel like a child who wants to turn professional. I train, I do everything I can to get back on the pitch.”
he added: “The latest news is I’m still a Juve player, I have the contract but I haven’t had the opportunity to speak to the director and coach … there’s silence. I think they’re waiting for the outcome of the appeal but you have to ask them.”
Pogba cannot play football professionally or train with Juventus, yet every day, he has been training alone all by himself, on a personal level, at his mansion in Turin. He had been practicing with a fitness coach in an equipped gym and with a personal football coach on the pitch.