Paul Pogba has made a stunning revelation, admitting he came very close to quitting professional football altogether.
In September 2023, Pogba was handed a provisional suspension after a banned substance was detected in his doping test sample.
A follow-up test confirmed the presence of the illegal substance, resulting in a four-year ban from football for the Frenchman.
Read: 'It doesn't look good for Foster'
Pogba appealed the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and the ban was later reduced to 18 months after he successfully argued that he had not deliberately taken the prohibited substance.
The former Juventus star, whose contract with the club was terminated in November 2024, has now admitted he would have walked away from the sport had the original four-year ban stood.
“If I had been given a four-year sentence, I would have quit football. I didn’t want to say it publicly, but that’s what I thought,” Pogba told GQ Magazine.
The ex-Manchester United midfielder, who is now free to sign with a club of his choosing, recalled the moment he received the initial news from his lawyer in February 2024.
“‘Sorry, they gave you four years,’” Pogba remembers hearing, leaving him stunned. “I didn’t understand. Why? They gave me the maximum sentence, which meant they really hadn’t listened to anything I told them.”
Nevertheless, Pogba remains without a club, though he has been linked with teams in France, Brazil, and the United States.
Read: 'The conditions will be better at Orlando than they were in Algeria'
By Lukhanyo Mtuta
Follow him here on X
