Paul Pogba was banned in the summer of 2023 over a failed doping test which landed him in trouble with not only UEFA but FIFA and the Italian football federation. This lead him to be banned for 4 years, which ultimately shut the door on one of France's best midfielders career. However, under a new ruling that deemed a 4 year suspension to be too long, with a reduced ban only till the winter of 2025, we can expect Pogba to begin training and signing a new deal with French title challengers Olympique Marseille.
Nonetheless, this can be seen as yet another very controversial signing for the historic French club who look to reclaim the Ligue 1 title back from heavy favourites Paris Saint Germain, and end their 15-year wait to sit on top of France again.
With the summer arrival of former Manchester United star Mason Greenwood, Pogba would provide ample attention to keep Marseille in the eye of the media
Greenwood at the beginning of 2022 was arrested by Manchester police on suspicion of harassment and sexual assault against his partner, but after a lengthy trial these charges were mysteriously dropped leading people to believe that there was some misconduct or false accusations made. Greenwood later returned to football in 2023 signing on loan for Spanish side Getafe and playing some good football, which earned him a move to the French side for the 2024-25 season.
Pogba and Greenwood have some history as the young Englishman came through the ranks of Manchester United as Pogba cemented his place in the starting eleven, at the time being recognised as one of the worlds best midfielders. Over time Pogba began to lose faith in the different managers he worked under, most notably Jose Mourinho who labelled Pogba as “a virus” which led the Frenchman to drop his level and later was seen on the bench for multiple games.
Pogba after his spell in Manchester was welcomed back to Turin into the famous black and white of Juventus, the club in which Pogba signed for and began to show everyone his world-class talents yet again until he was caught out by a random doping test held by UEFA. Pogba pleaded innocent during the original appeal against the ban, but UEFA and FIFA found no grounds to shorten or remove the ban. Which led them to put the hammer down and ban Pogba from all football matches and training for a minimum of 4 years.
However, after a recent secondary appeal by Pogba’s legal team concluded a retrial stating that the test performed was inaccurate and had a history of showing false results.
The verdict of the ban was kept the same, but the length of the ban was drastically reduced allowing Pogba to be able to train in January 2025 and make an appearance in a competitive match from March 2025
Although Pogba’s imminent transfer to Marseille looks set to be completed as soon as possible, this comes on the grounds that Juventus successfully terminate Pogba’s contract once he is available to train again, or else under UEFA rules Pogba will be required to see out his contract or pay a hefty sum to terminate it himself.
Many football fans look forward to welcoming the French maestro back to the pitch, but only time will tell if he is able to rediscover the form which excelled his career to the heights of the game, and if he will be able to assist Marseille to their long-term dream of reclaiming the French footballing throne.
