After 18 months
Paul Pogba doping lock expired – but what now?
11.03.2025 – 7:59 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The lock is over, but where are you going for Paul Pogba? After 18 months without a competitive game, the French midfielder is looking for a new club.
At the end of his doping lock after 18 months, Paul Pogba has been entitled to play again since midnight. The 31-year-old world champion of 2018 can thus join a new club and continue his career. So far, however, the Frenchman is still without a club.
In order to maintain his fitness, Pogba has been training at Olympique Marseille in the past few weeks. However, there will be no firm commitment to the traditional French association.
Sports director Medhi Benatia said the cancellation: “We thought about it. We wanted to get him. The problem: If you get a Paul Pogba who is not yet fit, it makes sense to tip the equilibrium with the media hype about a player who probably can no longer play this season?” He answered his question with a no.
So far, other swap rumors have not been specified. Media speculated, among other things, about a third commitment to Manchester United, for which he was already active in youth and between 2016 and 2022, or a move to Manchester City, Galatasaray or Corinthians. According to the Italian “Gazzetta Dello Sport”, there are also new options: Inter Miami, the club of Lionel Messi, as well as the Saudi Arabian clubs Al Hilal, Al-Shabab and Al -ittihad.
At the end of February there is said to have been a meeting between Pogba and Inter-Miami owner David Beckham. The Italian newspaper also reports that Al Hilal would like to present the French as a prominent figurehead. At Al-Ortihad, Pogba could meet his compatriots N’Golo Kanté, Moussa Diaby and Karim Benzema. However, it remains open whether the midfielder is actually interested in moving to the Saudi Pro League.
Pogba had been closed for 18 months because of taking testosterone. The lock was originally supposed to be four years, but was shortened by the highest sports court in Lausanne (Switzerland) because no intentional doping could be demonstrated. His contract with Juventus Turin was terminated at the end of 2024, so Pogba is now unifying and can freely decide on his sporting future.