Paul Pogba’s career appears to be over after his four-year doping ban finally brought an end to an ordeal that began six months ago. 

According to La Repubblica, the court never believed his defence that he had accidentally ingested a substance that caused him to test positive for DHEA, and his subsequent sentence looks to have destroyed his hopes of returning to the pitch.

Pogba, who will turn 31 next month, tested positive for testosterone after Juventus’s trip to Udinese on 20 August 2023, a game he did not even play in. His return to Italy for a second spell at Juventus has proved to be an unmitigated disaster.

His lengthy ban for doping is the latest chapter in Pogba’s decline. In recent years he has made all the wrong choices, with family drama also added into the mix.

Paul Pogba has been hit with a four-year ban after failing a drugs test last year

After returning to Juventus in 2022, the last two years have proved to be disastrous for Pogba

Having returned to Juventus two years ago, he suffered a serious knee injury on their pre-season tour of the US but refused immediate surgery as he listened to advisors and friends, and ended up hardly playing all season and missing the World Cup in Qatar.

The trust of the club that had believed in him has definitively vanished, leaving Juventus regretting that they gave him a second chance in Turin.

Allegri tried to protect him

Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri tried to protect Pogba and never spontaneously mentioned his name in press conferences to avoid putting excessive pressure on his fragile personality. 

Juventus had entrusted Pogba to be a key part of their midfield, but he never repaid that faith.

Fans were enthusiastic about the No10, but Paul was never a fundamental player within the project due to numerous physical and attitude problems. 

Every step forward was swiftly followed by a setback, with his first start against Cremonese last season being brought to a premature end when he picked up another injury.

Pogba will now require even more protection at a delicate point in his life, as he waits to see whether his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport will be successful. 

The last true Pogba was the one admired by English football in his second experience at Manchester United because he failed to rediscover his best form at Juventus. 

When he arrived in Turin for the second time he was already a former footballer, and his extraordinary athleticism was already a distant memory.

Pogba has been unable to put his injury woes behind him, and hardly played for Juventus

Massimiliano Allegri tried to protect Pogba and put a lot of trust in him, but it was never repaid

What went wrong at Juventus?

Last season, Pogba featured in only six games for Juventus without completing a single 90 minutes. 

The midfielder began his experience with Juventus in July 2022, having previously made 154 league appearances during his second stint at United, scoring 29 goals and registering 38 assists, but he had suffered a number of ankle issues at Old Trafford.

Juventus’s biggest mistake was putting so much trust in a player that had battled with physical problems for some time.

In total, Pogba played just 108 minutes in the league, 42 minutes in the Europa League and 11 minutes in the Italian Cup in the 2022-23 season – contributing virtually nothing to his team while his market value fell dramatically.

Pogba has a huge presence on social media, with 60million people following him on Instagram, and was expected to increase Juventus’s profile, but, in truth, his career was over from the moment he arrived in Turin. 

Pogba was Juventus’s highest-paid player yet played the fewest minutes for the team

Earning a salary of €8m-per-year (£6.8m), plus €2m (£1.7m) in bonuses meant Pogba cost Juventus €70,000 (£60,000) every minute. 

He was the team’s highest-paid player yet played the fewest minutes, making him the club’s worst signing in the last 20 years. Juventus placed great trust in him and his entourage but Pogba failed to get close to living up to expectations.

Pogba became a financial burden for the Italian club, who were deducted 10 points last year in relation to a ‘capital gains scandal’. 

But now, after just 161 minutes in all competitions spread over 11 appearances, his time at Juventus is over, and his career may be done for good as well.