Paul Pogba is finally coming back! The former Manchester United and Juventus star’s 18-month doping suspension ends in March, at which point he will be able to sign for a new club as a free agent.
Pogba was initially banned for four years after testing positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), but it was reduced in November after his partially successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The Frenchman was subsequently released from his contract at Juventus, bringing to an end his miserable second spell in Turin, and has since been training hard to get into shape.
The question is: who will take a gamble on an enigmatic player who turns 32 next month and has not played a competitive game since September 2023? Pogba gave an update on his situation at the end of January, telling Twitch streamer AmineMaTue: “There are proposals, then there are interesting things, and not so interesting things. A club that plays in the Champions League? Why not. If it comes, of course, why not. We always want to be in the best clubs. After that it doesn’t depend on me, it depends on lots of other things.”
Pogba also expressed his desire to earn a recall to the France national team, but that won’t be an easy task, especially if he has to settle for a club that cannot offer Champions League football. That’s not to say there is no hope for the World Cup winner, though, because at his very best he remains one of the most talented midfielders in the business.
The first step is regaining full fitness. Pogba hasn’t played regularly since his penultimate season at United due to a myriad of injuries, and needs the platform to prove he can still handle the physical demands of high-level football before he can think about bigger things.
With that in mind, GOAL has ranked the eight possible next destinations for Pogba…