Rome (AFP)
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said, the day after confirming the positive result of the doping test for the second sample, of French midfielder Paul Pogba, that “football has lost an exceptional player.”
“On the human level, it bothers me a lot, because I am close to the player,” Allegri stressed after his team’s victory in the “derby” match over Torino 2-0, in the eighth stage competitions.
He added, “Football lost an exceptional player, who was different from others,” while the Italian anti-doping authorities will begin investigating the case of Pogba (30 years old).
The 2018 World Cup champion in Russia, who was found to have high levels of testosterone, after the match between Juventus and its host Udinese in the first stage of the league “August 20”, in which he did not participate, will be subject to a four-year ban, which may be reduced by half if it is proven that he did not take the banned substance. Deliberately.
To explain the presence of testosterone in his samples, Pogba cites the use of a nutritional supplement prescribed to him by an American doctor.
Allegri added, “Let’s wait for the punishment. This saddens us all. We hope for the best for him, because on a psychological level it should not be easy for him.”
Since the announcement of the positive doping test for the French international player “91 matches” on September 11, Pogba has been suspended and is no longer entitled to enter the training headquarters of his team, Juventus.
Pogba returned to Turin in July 2022 after six seasons he spent with Manchester United, in exchange for a deal worth 8 million euros annually, which made him the highest-paid player in the “Old Lady” team.
The Italian club stopped paying him this salary stipulated in his contract, which expires in 2026, and will now pay him the minimum salary stipulated in the collective agreement for Italian professional players, which is 42,500 euros annually.
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