Simon Jordan has expressed his sadness at Paul Pogba’s four-year doping ban as the former Manchester United man now faces an early retirement less than two years after leaving the Premier League giants and returning to Juventus.
It was confirmed on Thursday lunchtime that the 2018 World Cup winner, who departed Manchester United when his contract expired two summer’s back, has been banned from football for four years after a drugs test – conducted in September – found ‘elevated levels of testosterone in his system’, per BBC Sport.
As such, Paul Pogba is now facing up to an extended absence which could run until 2027. By which time, he will be 33 years of age.
And while the saga most certainly will run and run – the BBC report that Pogba is likely to appeal against the ruling – this could still represent a very ‘sad end’ to a career which promised so much but has ultimately underdelivered.
Former Manchester United ace handed four-year doping ban
“Ultimately, no one wants to see him in this position,” Simon Jordan, the former Crystal Palace chairman, tells talkSPORT. “It probably spells the end of his career.
“It’s a sad end to Pogba because he was revered as one of the best midfielders. He was criticised for his performances at Manchester United, he’s gone back to Italian football because that was his natural home and he’s got himself banned.
“It’s not a good look for football either.”
That emotional Turin homecoming was supposed to represent a new dawn in Pogba’s career. A seemingly never-ending series of injuries had restricted him to just one Serie A start and 160 minutes of league football during his second spell in black-and-white.
And while it is not exactly uncommon for elite-level players to carry on beyond the age of 33 these days, it would take something remarkable if Pogba can bounce back after four years out of the professional game, especially considering the tolls those injuries have already taken on him.
Paul Pogba’s Juventus return has been a nightmare
“Even at the best-case scenario, if he can reduce the ban to two years, it still puts him in hte position where he will be out of professional football for a significant period of time,” Jordan adds. “(By the time he returns) the game will have moved on.”
Pogba’s agent, Rafaela Pimienta argued a few months back – when the Frenchman was suspended by Juventus – that any breach of football’s doping rules had been accidental.
“What is certain is that Paul Pogba never wanted to break a rule,” Pimienta said at the time.
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