Paul Pogba, former Manchester United midfielder, has reportedly been handed a four-year ban from football after failing a drugs test last August.
The 30-year-old tested positive for testosterone after Juventus’s first game of the season against Udinese and was given a hefty punishment by an anti-doping prosecutor’s office in Italy on Thursday, as reported by La Repubblica.
Pogba’s lawyers had rejected a plea deal and hoped to get their client a lighter sentence after claiming that he had accidentally ingested the substance that caused the positive test.
However, the prosecution did not believe Pogba’s defence, and he has now been given a ban that could potentially end his career.
Pogba will turn 31 next month, meaning he will not be able to return to the pitch until he is almost 35.
The French superstar was once the most expensive footballer in the world.
He returned to Old Trafford in 2016 after coming through the club’s academy before thriving at Juventus, with United paying the Italian giants £89m for his services.
Pogba won the World Cup with France two years later, scoring in the final against Croatia, but struggled to hit the same heights at United.
He left the 13-time Premier League champions on a free transfer for the second time in 2022 to go back to Juventus as he aimed to resurrect his career.
