Paul Pogba reveals which club he wants to play for when he returns as ex-Man Utd ace’s doping ban is reduced
PAUL POGBA has revealed the club he wants to play for after he finishes serving a doping ban.
Pogba’s career looked all-but over when he was hit with a FOUR-YEAR SUSPENSION after testing positive for elevated testosterone levels as a result of ingesting banned substance DHEA.
But the former Manchester United midfielder and current Juventus star had his ban reduced to 18 months following a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The 31-year-old’s ban was backdated to September 2023, meaning he’ll be eligible to play in March 2025.
And the France international is looking forward to playing for The Old Lady again, telling ESPN: “I want to play for Juventus again.”
The World Cup winner is even willing to take a wage cut to stay with the Serie A giants, although the Juve brass have held talks with his team about his lucrative contract.
He said: “I’m ready to cut and to reduce my salary to stay at Juve.
“I will talk with Thiago Motta. I want to demonstrate to be a great player again.”
He later added: “Right now I’m with Juventus, so we don’t know really what’s going on.
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“All the parties are talking, lawyers, etc. So I want to know what will happen next.
“But my main focus right now is just to get myself ready.
“I keep training and everything. Get ready for being able to join a team in January.”
Pogba admits he likely would have hung up his boots had his appeal to CAS been unsuccessful.
“I had many thoughts in my head,” he admitted. “I had so many thoughts to even stop playing.
“I’m like: ‘What am I going to do?’ If it’s four years, you start making the maths in your head.
“Four years not playing, training — which club is going to want me?
“Would I be fit and stuff like that, you make a lot of pictures in your head.
“But on the other side, I had faith obviously, and I was positive.
“I knew I didn’t do anything wrong on purpose, so then thankfully that happened and they reduced it.”
Pogba has also revealed the pain and hurt he has suffered as a result of the ban and insists he is not a “cheater”.
What is DHEA?
PAUL POGBA tested positive for elevated levels of DHEA, a hormone that naturally occurs in the adrenal gland, in August 2023
DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone, can be used to naturally boost testosterone production.
It does not produce testosterone itself.
It is on the world anti-doping banned substances list and carries a maximum of four years if the athlete took it deliberately to enhance their performance.
DHEA can legally be sold over-the-counter in the US as a dietary product, known as prasterone.
It is also taken as an anti-ageing therapy, and to treat depression and the symptoms of menopause, although there is little evidence to suggest it is effective, and it can cause serious side effects.
In 2022, UFC fighter Bobby Green received a six-month ban after testing positive for a DHEA.
Green said he had not realised that DHEA was banned after seeing a video on YouTube, and took the supplement after his wife bought it from a supermarket.
He told Sky Sports News: “I accept responsibility of taking the supplement but I didn’t triple check it – even if it came from a professional.
“If I have to be punished, then I’m fine with it. But it should never have been four years. I will accept 12 months.”
Asked to reassure his fans that he has always played clean and not taken performance enhancing drugs, Pogba replied: “When you see me, you know me. People know me.
“So even when everything happened people said: ‘we know Paul, he would never take that. If he did, he wouldn’t have known and it won’t have been on purpose’.
“And this it totally the truth. I’m an honest person, I would say it.”
“I am not a cheater, I am someone that loves my sport. I love the game and I would never, ever. I like to win fairly and people know that.”