On the evening of December 7th, Beijing time, the latest news from many Italian media was that the Italian Anti-Doping Prosecutor’s Office had concluded the investigation process against Pogba. They requested that the Juventus midfielder be banned for four years. If the penalty is finally announced, the 30-year-old Pogba will be without a ball for up to 4 years. And whether he will continue his career at the age of 34 four years later is undoubtedly a huge unknown.
Pogba currently faces two options, either reaching a plea deal with anti-doping prosecutors, which will help halve his ban to 2 years, but this option will not have any possibility of appeal. Either he will continue to fight the opponent in the anti-doping court. In this case, Pogba may win the case and be exempted from punishment, but he may also lose the case and continue to face a four-year ban. After losing the case in court, Pogba can still continue to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
In early September this year, the Italian Anti-Doping Court announced that Pogba tested positive for drugs and was temporarily suspended. It is reported that the substances found in Pogba’s samples are: non-endogenous testosterone metabolites. Despite Pogba’s request for a retest, the positive result was confirmed in early October.
Pogba has been banned from participating in any football activities and is not allowed to train at Juventus’ Continassa training ground. According to previous media reports, Pogba, who originally earned an annual salary of 9 million euros at Juventus, has been suspended internally by Juventus after the drug testing scandal broke out. Currently, he is said to only receive a minimum salary of 2,000 euros per month.
If he is ultimately banned for four years, the Bianconeri are likely to terminate the contract with Pogba on the grounds of breach of contract. Last summer, after his contract with Manchester United expired, Pogba returned to Juventus as a free agent and put on the No. 10 jersey, which symbolizes the core.
However, after his “second entry”, Pogba suffered from injuries. Since his return in July 2022, he has only played 213 minutes in 12 games. This season, Pogba has only played twice for Juventus, and these two games are likely to be Pogba’s farewell performance at Juventus or even his career.