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SERIE A

Pogba snatches No. 10 shirt from Dybala as Juventus fans celebrate his return

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Paul Pogba arrives at a medical centre to undergo medical tests in Turin, Italy, on July 9, 2022. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

French World Cup-winning midfielder Paul Pogba has returned to Serie A side Juventus on a free transfer, the Italian giants announced on their website on Monday (July 11).

The 29-year-old enjoyed a highly successful first spell at Juventus (2012-16) before Manchester United swooped to sign him for a then record €105 million (S$149 million).

“Paul is back in Turin,” Juventus said on their website below a photo of a grinning Pogba in a Juventus shirt.

“He left as a boy and returns as a man and a champion.

“But there is one thing that has not changed – the desire to write unforgettable pages of club history together once more.

“Pogba is back and we couldn’t be happier.”

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Pogba underwent his medical check-up over the weekend and has signed a four year deal which will earn him a reported €8 million a season plus a potential €2 million in bonuses.

“Juventus Football Club announces that it has signed a contract of employment with the player Paul Pogba,” read the statement.

“Juventus will incur ancillary costs of €2.5 million, to be paid within Aug 31, 2022.

“Juventus and the player have signed a contract of employment until June 30, 2026.”

He rejoins Juve after his contract with Manchester United expired at the end of last month, marking the end of a largely disappointing six years back in England.

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Dysfunctional United are further away from the top of English football than when he joined. They have not won a Premier League title in nine years.

The 2017 Europa League and the same season’s League Cup are a poor haul for Pogba at one of the world’s biggest clubs, especially as they both came under Jose Mourinho, a period when Pogba has said he first suffered from depression.

Pogba is expected to inherit the No. 10 jersey from Paulo Dybala, who could join Juve’s fiercest rivals Inter Milan after the Argentina forward was let go by the Turin giants.

Pogba wore that jersey in his final season at Juve, joining such iconic playmakers as Roberto Baggio, Alessandro del Piero, Michele Platini and Liam Brady.

He had moved to Juve from United four years previously while still a teenager and made a huge impression in a slick midfield featuring the likes of Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal.

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Pogba blossomed when coach Massimiliano Allegri replaced Antonio Conte in 2014. The Frenchman drove a powerful team to the following year’s Champions league final, losing to Barcelona.

He won the Serie A title in each of his four seasons at the Old Lady of Italian football and retained his affection for Juve. He was linked with a return on several occasions during his time at United.

Allegri will be hoping that Pogba can help Juve return to their former glories after they finished fourth last season, 16 points behind champions AC Milan.

Pogba is Juve’s second notable signing in recent days. The club secured the signature of veteran Argentina winger Angel di Maria after he was released by French champions Paris Saint-Germain.

-AFP

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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SERIE A

Pogba’s Juve future in doubt as director signals no need for midfielder

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'Heartbroken' Pogba To Appeal Four-year Doping Ban At CAS -

Paul Pogba’s hopes of playing for Juventus again took a hit on Saturday when the club’s director Cristiano Giuntoli said that the Serie A side are complete without him.

The 31-year-old midfielder, who has a contract with Juve until June 2026, will end his doping ban in March after testing positive for DHEA in September 2023, a banned substance that boosts testosterone levels.

The former France international had his ban cut earlier this month from an initial four years to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and will be eligible to play for Juve as soon as the ban ends.

“Our position is clear. Pogba has been a great player, he has been out for a long time and last year we were forced to invest in other players,” Giuntoli told DAZN ahead of the club’s home match against Lazio.

“So now the squad is complete as it is.”

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Juventus were not immediately available for comment.

-Reuters

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SERIE A

Paul Pogba says ‘nightmare is over’ after drug ban cut to 18 months

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Paul Pogba has had his doping ban reduced from four years to 18 months. PHOTO: AFP

French international footballer Paul Pogba said on Oct 4 that his “nightmare is over” after a four-year ban for doping was reduced to 18 months.

The midfielder, who is under contract with Italian giants Juventus until 2026, will be able to return to competitive football from March 11, four days before his 32nd birthday.

“Finally the nightmare is over. I can look forward to the day I can follow my dreams again,” he said in a statement.

“I always stated I never knowingly breached World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) regulations when I took a nutritional supplement prescribed to me by a doctor, which does not affect or enhance the performance of male athletes.

“I want to place on record my thanks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) judges who heard my explanation. This has been a hugely distressing period because everything I have worked so hard for has been put on hold.”

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Earlier on Oct 4, a spokesperson for CAS confirmed that Pogba’s suspension had been slashed.

“I can confirm the decision – an 18-month suspension with effect from 11 September 2023. The reasons for the decision will follow later,” the spokesperson told AFP.

Pogba tested positive for testosterone in August 2023 after a match between Juventus and Udinese in Italy.

He was provisionally suspended in September, and then banned for four years by the Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal the following February.

Pogba’s representatives said the testosterone came from a food supplement prescribed by a doctor he consulted in the United States.

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After the ban was announced, he posted on his Instagram account that he had “never knowingly or deliberately” taken doping products.

“I am sad, shocked and heartbroken that everything I have built in my professional playing career has been taken away from me,” he wrote at the time.

On Oct 4, after the CAS ruling, his post was wordless, showing only a close-up of two feet wearing Pogba football boots with socks bearing his initials and decorated with the French flag and the two World Cup stars.

A key figure when France won the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Pogba collected four Serie A titles in his first stint at Juventus but had a string of problems, on and off the pitch, after his 2022 return from Manchester United.

During the 2022-23 season, he made just 10 appearances for the club, mainly due to a knee injury that also ruled him out of the World Cup in Qatar, where France lost out to Argentina in the final in December 2022.

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He was also the victim of a case of organised extortion, for which six men, including his brother Mathias, were in September ordered to stand trial. AFP

-AFP

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SERIE A

Inter and AC Milan reject plan to renovate San Siro

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Inter and AC Milan on Friday rejected the project to modernise and restructure the iconic San Siro stadium which they share, city mayor Giuseppe Sala announced.”The two clubs said no to the restructuring of San Siro proposed by (construction group) WeBuild,” Sala said after a meeting with officials of the two northern Italian clubs.

“They provided detailed analyses of technical and economic feasibility and their conclusions are that this project cannot be carried out at a sustainable cost and that they do not wish to move in this direction.”

The two clubs would, however, be ready to relaunch the initial project of a new stadium in the immediate vicinity of San Siro, according to Sala.

“We are not starting from scratch on this subject, but there is resistance from local residents,” Sala pointed out.

“They must present us with a project within a fairly short time frame, but building stadiums in Italy is never easy, it is always very complex.”

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To increase their commercial revenue both clubs, who have been crowned European champions 10 times between them, have announced that they wish to leave the San Siro, which is owned by the city of Milan.

Officially known as the Giuseppe-Maezza stadium, the 80,000 capacity San Siro is a spectacular concrete structure built in 1926 but which no longer meets their needs.

The two clubs also each have a stadium project in their pipeline.

Earlier this year AC Milan bought land in the suburb of San Donato Milanese, to the south-east of the city, as part of a plan to move away from the San Siro and outside the official boundaries of the city of Milan.

Reigning Serie A champions Inter have their sights set on the towns of Rozzano and Assago, just south of Milan, after having also sounded out the possibility of building on former industrial land in populous northern suburb Sesto San Giovanni.

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In 2026, San Siro will host the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

It should also be the scene of the 2027 Champions League final, which according to the Italian press could be called into question amid the ongoing uncertainty over the stadium’s future.

-AFP

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