Eager

Paul Pogba, a French player, declared on Monday that he was eager to play football again after his four-year doping penalty was shortened to eighteen months last week.

With Juventus, the biggest team in Italy, under contract until 2026, Pogba will be able to play competitive football again starting on March 11 of the following year, which is four days before his 32nd birthday.

The Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal placed a temporary suspension on him in September of that year, then in February of the following year, they issued a four-year ban.

Representatives for Pogba said that the testosterone originated from a dietary supplement that a US physician he saw recommended.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lowered this punishment to 18 months at the start of October.

“Football is the strawberry cake that was taken out of my mouth,” Pogba told L’Equipe television in an interview from the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris.

“The nightmare is over,” said Pogba, adding he was “really looking forward to coming back”.

Pogba, who has never participated in the French league in his senior career, was asked whether he could join Ligue 1 and he said, “Why not?”

Pogba, who was instrumental in France’s victory at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, won four Serie A championships during his first spell at Juventus.

However, following his 2022 return from Manchester United, he experienced a number of issues both on and off the ball.

He was also the target of a purported organised extortion case, in which six men—among them his brother Mathias—were mandated to appear in court last month.

meanwhile according to a statement by transfer expert, Romano Fabrizio, Pogba and Juventus board are negotiating to terminate the former Manchester United player’s contract which will see him become a free agent by 2025.