It is the afternoon of October 4, 2024. Paul Pogba stands at home gazing out of the window overcome with shock. Happy shock.
He is dressed in a suit, which Pogba later tells me has had his family in stitches of laughter. Indeed, Pogba is finally allowing himself a smile. Surely not even Graeme Souness would begrudge him that. More than 12 months of heartache — a period Pogba morbidly describes as ‘darkness’ — has reached its climax.
It is an ending that has brought vindication to Pogba’s fight for justice. The ordeal that saw him banned for four years for testing positive for prohibited substance DHEA is over, his suspension slashed to 18 months after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled he did not intentionally seek an advantage.
‘Here’s a funny story: I was trying on a new suit for a film premiere but I didn’t have my phone,’ Pogba tells Mail Sport. ‘My wife (Zulay) comes rushing upstairs with my phone screaming, “It’s the lawyer”. I said I would call him back but she said I had to take the call.
‘So I went downstairs to speak to him with the suit on! He told me the news and I was silent. Everyone was jumping, so happy but I was in shock. Quickly that happiness turned into a determination. We went through hell. A time of darkness. But this is my second chance, I have to use it. I was pumped.’
French World Cup winner Paul Pogba’s four-year doping ban was reduced to 18 months earlier this month
The former Manchester United star is allowing himself to smile now that the prospect of returning to the pitch is just a few months away
As Pogba opens his heart at the Sofitel Paris Baltimore Hotel — a brisk 20-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower — for his first interview with a UK newspaper since having his ban reduced, you can sense the relief.
The trappings of his career are there in full view. Dressed in Prada, he is in the right city for making a fashion statement.
Custom-made ‘PP’ earrings adorn both lobes. The two necklaces draped across his neck sparkle.
This is one of the most recognisable sportsmen on the planet and he has earned his luxuries. Yet there is a redeeming humility to Pogba. He is engaging as we chew the fat about his doping hell, Manchester United, Jose Mourinho and the future. This is
Pogba’s chance to tell his story. ‘We are all human, we all have feelings. When that (ban) happened, I realised what life is,’ says the World Cup winner.
‘Paul Pogba — the famous guy — is no more. People were avoiding me. I used to get invited to fashion weeks and events like that. Now they were like, “We can’t use Pogba”. My friends weren’t ringing like the way they were ringing before.
The French star sat down with Mail Sport’s Sami Mokbel for his first and only interview with a UK newspaper since having his ban reduced
Pogba was dressed in the trappings of his elite career in head-to-toe designer clothing – but the midfielder has earned his luxuries
‘When people hear doping it’s like they think you want to become the Incredible Hulk. That’s how people used to see me. And public opinion means they can say what they want.’
Not that Pogba is bitter. The 31-year-old says: ‘I’m fine with this. It’s life and I’ve realised that. I’ve grown so much, I’m a different person. When you take something away you love, you realise how much you appreciate it.’
Pogba was putting on his boots ahead of a training session at Juventus’s HQ in September 2023 when the club doctor approached him with the news that rocked his universe. ‘I was shocked’, he recalls. ‘They are accusing me of doping? I started thinking what did I eat? What cream did I use?’
Initially, he thought the positive test may have been triggered by an injection administered by the club. That was not the case. At the centre of the scandal was a supplement prescribed to Pogba by a doctor in the USA. He had taken them before but they had never sparked a positive reading.
Discussion ranged from talk of his drugs ban to Manchester United, to Jose Mourinho (right)
The 31-year-old revealed that after the initial drug ban was announced certain friends stopped calling like ‘they were before’
‘I had so many problems outside football and the injuries. (After leaving United) I wanted Juventus to be a reset,’ Pogba says. ‘And then this happens. Why me? I just wanted to play football but instead I was drowning with problems. At one point you just break down.’
Yet Pogba holds his hands up. Athletes, ultimately, are responsible for what enters their body. ‘I was taking a supplement that was prescribed by a professional,’ he says. ‘My mistake, and I take responsibility, is not triple-checking. But if you go to a doctor and they tell you to take this two times a day, what do you do?’
Pogba has made peace with it now. But will it taint his legacy? Pogba accepts people will have already made up their minds. ‘This is a chapter I won’t forget but other people might,’ he says. ‘Yesterday people were thinking I was guilty of doing it on purpose. Now they are like, “We are so happy to see you again on the pitch”. Things change.’
Pogba has faced plenty of adversity in his career. For one, he never hit the heights he was expected to when he returned to United in a record £89million deal four years after leaving for Turin.
French midfielder Pogba returned to Juventus in 2022 after six years away at Man United
The 31-year-old was pictured at Juventus’ clash with Cagliari two days after the news of his reduced ban broke
The international played a key role in Didier Deschamps’ World Cup-winning side in 2018
Injuries were a factor. So was playing out of position, particularly under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. There was also a tempestuous relationship with Jose Mourinho. ‘It was like boyfriend and girlfriend, we were breaking up and making up all the time,’ Pogba says. ‘It started great, he was one of the reasons I went back to Manchester.
‘I don’t know why it turned into a nightmare and us fighting. We disagreed like managers and players do. But there’s a lot of respect from me to him. If I see him tomorrow it’s a big hug! But one day we’ll have to sit down and discuss it.’
Mourinho’s exit and Solskjaer’s arrival in December 2018 coincided with what Pogba believes was his best campaign in a United shirt. But the midfielder reveals his heart was not in it.
‘I’ll tell you something I’ve never told anyone,’ Pogba says. ‘The year Jose went and Ole came, it was my best season at United but after the last game I told Ole and (then CEO) Ed Woodward that I thought it was my last year and that I wanted to leave.
‘I was 27, it didn’t work out the way I wanted. I gave my best but didn’t see the club going upwards. I wanted to go but I came back for pre-season because I wanted to be professional.
‘I spoke to Ed to make a move but he blocked it. I didn’t want to play for United any more but I had to be professional. Mentally I wasn’t there and then I got the injuries.’
It is a sliding doors moment that may still rankle. Who knows if any of this would have happened if Pogba had left Old Trafford in the summer of 2019?
The reason he visited the US wellness clinic that prescribed the pills was because he wanted to prevent his body constantly breaking down.
Though the 18-month ban has called a temporary halt to his career, Pogba has dealt with plenty of adversity throughout his time as a professional footballer
The midfielder admits that his relationship with Mourinho was akin to that of ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ – with the pair ‘breaking up and making up’ regularly
Though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s half-season in charge was his best for United, Pogba admitted he wanted to leave at the end of the campaign
After being denied a move away from the Red Devils in 2019 he claims ‘mentally I wasn’t there’
The likelihood is that Pogba will leave Juventus by mutual consent with both parties in talks about tearing up his contract
But there is now light at the end of the tunnel. Pogba can return to training in January and play competitive football in March. The likelihood is he will leave Juventus, with all parties in talks about tearing up his contract.
‘I have goals and dreams — my dream was always to play for the national team and it is still in my head,’ adds Pogba. ‘But today the future of Paul is to get back on the pitch and show I still have the level.
‘Football hasn’t stopped because I can’t play; players are playing, that’s life — that’s the circle. All the players will say, “Pogba is back, I don’t want him to take my position”. That’s normal. But I have to be ready.’
World Cup 2026? You would be a fool to bet against him.