Paul Pogba could soon resume his football career after seeing his four-year ban for a doping offence reduced to 18 months following a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The former Manchester United midfielder – who won the World Cup with France in 2018 – has been out of action since September last year when he last played for Juventus.
Under the terms of his reduced ban, Pogba is now free to return to training in January 2025, before being permitted to play again from March.
The 31-year-old is still under contract with Juventus until June 2026 but it is understood that talks are underway that could see the deal terminated early.
Pogba could therefore soon be available on a free transfer. But Graeme Souness does not believe that the player would make a good signing.
French midfielder Paul Pogba last played a game of football in September 2023 when he featured for Juventus against Empoli, shortly before being banned for a doping offence
But Pogba, pictured playing for Man United in 2020, will be available again from March 2025
Graeme Souness said on the Three Up Front podcast that he would not sign Pogba for free
Souness appeared on the Three Up Front podcast with Simon Jordan this week and he was asked if there was ‘any circumstance’ in which he would ‘take the punt’ on Pogba.
The Scot’s response was firm. ‘No,’ he said. ‘How do I see him? Extremely talented, but he’s just a wasted talent.
‘I think maybe the worst thing that happened to him was winning the World Cup. He would have been a young man, 23?’
Pogba was actually 25 when he was part of the France side that beat Croatia 4-2 in world football’s biggest game in 2018.
Former midfielder Souness – who won trophies with Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Sampdoria and Rangers during his playing career in the 1970s and 1980s – added: ‘From that point on, I think he got in his armchair.
Pogba won the World Cup with France in 2018, scoring in a 4-2 win over Croatia in the final
Souness believes that Pogba winning the World Cup potentially affected his career negatively
Pogba has played just 12 times for Juventus since rejoining the club in the summer of 2022
‘I took it personally when I was playing against someone. It’s the only position (central midfield) on the pitch where you are against someone who’s wanting to do more or less the exact same things as you want to do on a football pitch.
‘The only thing I was taught to do, from the first minute, was to work harder than the guy I was in against.
‘He (Pogba) goes out to play and to show everyone how cute and clever he is. Instead of saying, ‘I’m going out to make him (his opposite midfielder) have a miserable day.”
Pogba was provisionally suspended in September last year.
Explaining its decision to reduce his ban from four years to 18 months, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement on Monday: ‘The CAS Panel based its decision on the evidence and legal arguments made that Mr Pogba’s ingestion of DHEA, the substance for which he tested positive, was not intentional and was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed to him by a medical doctor in Florida, after Mr Pogba had been given assurances that the medical doctor, who had claimed to treat several high level US and international athletes, was knowledgeable and would be mindful of Mr Pogba’s anti-doping obligations under the World Anti-Doping Code.
‘Much of the evidence provided by Mr Pogba was unopposed. The CAS Panel determined, however, that Mr Pogba was not without fault and that, as a professional football player, he should have paid a greater care in the circumstances.’
Pogba is under contract with Juve until 2026 but he could leave as a free agent before then
Pogba, 31, pictured earlier this year in Milan at a premiere for the movie ‘Kinds of Kindness’
Pogba then issued a statement on Friday. It read: ‘Finally the nightmare is over. I can look forward to the day when I can follow my dreams again.
‘I always stated that I never knowingly breached World Anti-Doping Agency regulations when I took a nutritional supplement prescribed to me by a doctor, which does not affect or enhance the performance of male athletes.
‘I play with integrity and, although I must accept that this is a strict liability offence, I want to place on record my thanks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s judges who heard my explanation.
‘This has been a hugely distressing period in my life because everything I have worked so hard for has been put on hold.’
