French worldwide Paul Pogba stated Monday he was hungry to return to soccer after his doping ban was final week diminished from 4 years to 18 months. “Football is the strawberry cake that was taken out of my mouth,” Pogba instructed L’Equipe tv in an interview from the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris. Pogba, who’s below contract with Italian giants Juventus till 2026, will be capable of return to aggressive soccer from March 11 subsequent 12 months, 4 days earlier than his thirty second birthday.
Capped 91 instances for France, Pogba examined constructive for testosterone in August 2023 after a match between Juventus and Udinese in Italy.
He was provisionally suspended in September of the identical 12 months, after which banned for 4 years by the Italian National Anti-Doping Tribunal the next February.
Pogba’s representatives stated the testosterone got here from a meals complement prescribed by a physician he consulted within the United States.
At the start of October, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) diminished this sanction to 18 months.
“The nightmare is over,” stated Pogba, including he was “actually trying ahead to coming again”.
Asked a couple of doable arrival in Ligue 1, Pogba, who has by no means performed within the French league throughout his senior profession, responded: “why not?”
A key determine when France received the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Pogba collected 4 Serie A titles in his first stint at Juventus however had a string of issues, on and off the pitch, after his 2022 return from Manchester United.
He was additionally the sufferer of an alleged organised extortion, for which six males, together with his brother Mathias, have been final month ordered to face trial.
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