Paul Pogba with French supporters, after the 5-2 victory over Iceland, during the quarter-final of the Euro at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, July 3, 2016. FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Repeated injuries, a sinister extortion affair involving those close to him, a positive test for testosterone in August 2023: incarnation of a joy of playing which stood out in a football with such oppressive “stakes”, an expression of assumed lightness off the field, Paul Pogba saw his news turn to news and his career to sadness.
Provisionally suspended, he will plead good faith in a few weeks before the Italian anti-doping court, the prosecution having requested a four-year suspension. On January 5, The team revealed that investigators attribute the organization of his kidnapping by armed men on March 19, 2022 to one of his “friends”.
Pogba preceded Kylian Mbappé in stardom, and he too had affirmed – in 2012 – that his objective was “to be the best player in the world”. As with the Parisian striker, we were promised an extraordinary career. It will have been, in several respects.
Modern footballer
Pogba is a perfectly modern footballer. For his athletic power, his technical virtuosity and his versatile midfielder profile – sentinel, relay player or playmaker. But also for his flamboyant personality and his status as a marquee playerlikely to bring trophies to his club… as well as notoriety, spectators and sponsors.
This justified the record for the highest transfer in 2016 – 105 million euros. If the back and forth between the two surfaces characterizes this type of environment box to box, his returns to the only two clubs of his professional career – a rarity today – will not have been successful for him. Underused at Manchester United (2009-2012), it was at Juventus Turin that he revealed himself (2012-2016), winning four championships in a row.
Serie A being far from its glory of the 1990s, “the Pickaxe” returns to the spotlight of the Premier League to take its revenge on Manchester United… at Manchester United. Despite winning a Europa League and a Cup straight away, he accumulated injuries and criticism, and ended up being left free by the Red Devils. Juventus is betting on him again in the summer of 2022. He has since played only a dozen matches.
Dissipated, exuberant, egocentric, not afraid to exhibit the lifestyle of a basketball player or an American rapper, Pogba seemed destined to fuel the discourse which, especially since the tragicomedy of the 2010 World Cup, vilified the mentality of footballers unworthy of the blue jersey, deemed insufficiently French. English striker Raheem Sterling had demonstrated the very variable nature of the exemplary nature required of footballers, depending on their origins.
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