Pogba and Turin, a story of heart between goals, kebabs and watches

The farewell gift to his teammates in 2016 was a watch. The unconscious dedication can be written now: I can’t wait to return. Every man has a city where he grew up, where he was happy and, for Paul Pogba, that city is Turin. He also said it: “At Juve I became a man and a footballer. Turin is the place where I learned the most.” In Manchester, after all, he was unhappy twice, the first because he had little space with Ferguson, the second because in the last three years he had a lot of space, a lot of money, but no magic. PP, on the other hand, has always been clear about Turin: “Turin is my home”, he too said after leaving. When he returned to town with the French national team, he celebrated the comeback with a photo full of hearts straight from the Caselle track. After all, when he landed in Piedmont for the first time, he was just a boy.

NUMBER 106

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Raiola is gone but Turin is still her, relaunched in recent years between Atp Finals and Eurovision. Pogba would recognize her right away, with her ways and her people. It remains to decide which neighborhood to live in, perhaps considering that Juve are now training at Continassa, not at Vinovo. In his first Italian life, the Octopus chose in an original way, as original as possible: he took home a stone’s throw from the stadium … del Toro. A house for rent in via Filadelfia, a stone’s throw from the Olympic stadium, in a traditionally grenade area. A green gate, a camera and a symbolic house number: 106, the combination of the jersey numbers used in the four years at Juve. Grenade area, of course, yet Paul, around there, found a way to make himself loved. He lived on the top floor, in a 300 square meter apartment with an attic and a huge living room.

THE KEBAB

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The scene handed down in a hundred stories, taken from those years, was the purchase of kebabs. Paul served himself as an “Olimpico Pizza Kebab” and often bought for the many friends who came to visit him, stayed with him for an evening, stopped for a few days. Those who asked for an interview found stories: “He came almost every day, even just to say hello. He took for himself and for the guests, because his house was always full, and then he brought up. kebab dish with lots of meat, tomato, salad, onions, chips and plenty of spicy sauce “. Mom Yeo was often at home and Pogba drove around town in a black Bentley. Among the great friends in the team, Evra and Lemina.

FREE TIME

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In those four years Pogba lived Turin in two different ways, as a boy who intrigued the Juventus players and then as an established champion. Fans have spotted him at the Copacabana, a churrascaria always in the Olympic area, at the Chiambretti restaurant in the pre-hilly area, at the bowling alley in via Monginevro where he sometimes went with Coman, or at One Apple, Antonio Conte’s club. Turin learned to appreciate him like this, with that sentimental vitality of him, exuberant on and off the pitch in the right way.

HI FRIEND

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In his world, of course, some people will be missing. Raiola will be missing and Bryan Jocelyn Dodien will be missing, the Juventus footballer born in 2004 who was fighting against cancer. Pogba decided to be close to him privately and in public. After a goal in the derby of the Italian Cup in December 2015 he showed an undershirt: “Bryan I’m with you”, Then he told reporters: “I will never leave him”. She had to leave him, by force, in 2021. And Paul that day wrote him a letter to cry: “I will never forget you. You fought so much, you were strong, an example for everyone. Hello my little friend. We will miss you.”