French international and Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, aged 30, received a four-year ban from football after testing positive for testosterone. Following the ban’s announcement, Pogba announced his intention to appeal, stating the substance was ingested inadvertently.
Speaking to Téléfoot last weekend, several of La Pioche‘s Équipe de France teammates past and present spoke in defence of the Parisian native. Adrien Rabiot, Pogba’s teammate for club and country, claimed the dressing room was “Devastated by the news”, whilst Adil Rami claimed it was “A waste for French football and football as a whole”. Rio Mavuba, who made Deschamps’ squad for the 2014 World Cup, claimed that he was “In no doubt about Paul’s sincerity and I think he may have been somewhat tricked too”.
Despite the disappointment following the ban, his teammates and friends remain optimistic that there will be a way back for him: “We’re talking to Paul. He’s trying to keep his head up even when everything is falling on him. I hope he will come out of this as best he can because having all of this to deal with at once is alot” added Rabiot.
Rami was even more defiant: ” I even think that he is capable of training by himself for four years and coming back. If he does that, it’ll be one of the best stories that a champion is capable of creating”
As Pogba awaits the outcome of the appeal, the football world is left to lament the sad denouement for of the career of a player that should have been one of the very best of his generation.