Paul Pogba nearly quit football at 31 as ex-Man Utd star opens up on drugs ban 'hell'

Paul Pogba has admitted that he seriously considered retiring from football after initially being handed a lengthy doping ban. The former Manchester United midfielder was hit with a four-year suspension after failing a post-match drugs test in 2023.

His ban has since been reduced to 18 months, meaning Pogba will be free to train in January and start playing matches in March. He remains tied down to Juventus until 2026 but the Italian giants are widely expected to terminate his contract ahead of schedule.

Opening up on the ordeal in an interview with ESPN, Pogba admitted that he thought about quitting football earlier this year but ultimately decided not to.

“I had many thoughts in my head, I had so many thoughts to even stop playing,” he said. “I’m like: ‘What am I going to do?’. If it’s four years, you start making the maths in your head. Four years not playing, training.

“Which club is going to want me? Would I be fit? And stuff like that, you make a lot of pictures in your head. But on the other side, I had faith obviously, and I was positive. I knew I didn’t do anything wrong on purpose, so then thankfully that happened and they reduce it.”

Pogba was found to have elevated testosterone levels in his system, prompting the initial four-year ban. He maintained his innocence throughout the entire process and pledged to appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The body determined that Pogba inadvertently took DHEA, a banned substance known to enhance testosterone levels. Doping bans can be reduced in cases where an athlete proves it was not intentional or it was the result of contamination.

“When you sit back and see how things went through my whole life, not only the doping, I’m like yeah, definitely I gained 10 more years, got more experience,” he added.

“I would say more wise. It made me realise you sometimes have to be more careful of the decision that you take. Definitely what I’ve learned is you always triple check because until it happens, everything is fine.

“A lot of players have coaches, physios, chefs on their own and that can happen. So for sure the advice I would give everybody is make sure that you have everything on record. At the end of the day, obviously I took responsibility for not double-checking.”

Quizzed on what the future holds for him, Pogba said: “Right now I’m with Juventus, so we don’t know really what’s going on. All the parties are talking, lawyers et cetera, so I want to know what will happen next.

“But my main focus right now is just to get myself ready. I keep training and everything. Get ready for being able to join a team in January.”