Paul Pogba holds talks with Champions League club over return to football after the end of his 18-month doping ban

Daily Mail​

04-06-2025

Paul Pogba has held talks with Monaco as he weighs up his next move after returning from his doping ban.
The free agent, 32, officially returned from his suspension in March and last featured for Juventus against Empoli in September 2023.
Pogba left Juventus in November last year and has been training to keep himself sharp for any suitors.
The former Manchester United star shared pictures on Tuesday at an athletics and football facility with Roma striker Paulo Dybala and, somewhat bizarrely, Donald Trump 's businessman son-in-law Michael Boulos among others. The foul weather did not deter him from getting a workout in.
Mail Sport exclusively revealed last year that Pogba had had his four-year ban cut to 18 months after appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
He also sat down with Mail Sport one-on-one to open up on the 'hell' of his ban and how it had impacted his life.
'We are all human, we all have feelings. When that (ban) happened, I realised what life is,' the World Cup winner said.
'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.
'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.'
He also said: 'We went through hell. A time of darkness. But this is my second chance, I have to use it.'
Moving to Monaco would represent his firts taste of domestic French football since he left Le Havre's academy in 2009.
Adi Hutter's men finished third in Ligue 1 this season and have therefore qualified for the league phase of the Champions League.
There is every chance he could face one of his old Premier League rivals, although there will be no reunion with Man United after they lost the Europa League final.
The Frenchman eventually left Old Trafford on a free in the summer of 2022, six years after he had returned for a then-world record £89million fee.
He returned to Juventus in 2022 but only managed 12 appearances due to injury troubles before a failed drugs test in August 2023.
In February 2024, Pogba, then 30, was slapped with a four-year ban from football after failing the test.
He had tested positive for testosterone after Juventus's first game of the 2023-24 season against Udinese, and was given his hefty punishment by an anti-doping prosecutor's office in Italy.