One of football’s most baffling recent career paths could be heading for another surprising twist.
Paul Pogba has been serving a ban this year after testing positive for a prohibited substance and mutually terminated his contract at Juventus in November. He is eligible to return to training from January, and to match action from March.
Now, Manchester City have seemingly emerged as a potential destination with Pep Guardiola's interest in the former Manchester United midfielder going back as far as Pogba’s departure from Old Trafford in 2022.
From a four-year ban to a possible sensational return
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has long admired Pogba(Image credit: Getty Images)
Pogba was originally banned from football for four years. At 31 years of age, his career as a top-level footballer looked to be all but over. But his sanction was reduced on appeal and City’s precipitous drop in form has coincided with his imminent return.
In October, Pogba explained that he almost signed for Man City when he left Man United for a second time but chose Juventus because of the complicated personal circumstances that derailed his career and left him preferring to leave Manchester altogether.
Shaun Wright-Phillips celebrates a goal for Manchester City against Aston Villa in November 2004.
Shaun Wright-Phillips had two spells at Manchester City(Image credit: Getty Images)
Guardiola had identified Pogba as a replacement for captain Fernandinho. Now, with Ballon d’Or winner Rodri facing a long spell out injured and City faltering in both the Premier League and the Champions League, the mutual interest between club and player could be subject to an unexpected rekindling.
Former Man City star Shaun Wright-Phillips is backing Pogba to return for a third spell in Manchester, this time at the Etihad Stadium.
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“You can’t really take away the talent that Paul Pogba’s got,” he told sportscasting.com in an exclusive interview.
“I think it’s wrong for people to just assume, ‘OK, he’s had his bad time, he’s just gone as a player.’ He’s still quite young. I’ve seen him, he still looks trim and in shape.”
“I think if you can get him fit,” said Wright-Phillips, “the ability that he has – if you can get him working and defending – the ability he has going forward in terms of those raking passes that he can play, the goals that he can score or the skills that he can do, if you can get him where he need to be quickly, I think it’s be a plus for a lot of clubs in the Premier League.
“It’d be massive. Paul Pogba could be an important player for any of the top clubs.”
Massive is right. A successful return for Pogba anywhere would be a stunning comeback. A successful return at Manchester City would be a sensation.
Pogba knows what it takes to achieve that success. He’s a quadruple Serie A champion with Juventus, a World Cup winner and, with United, a Europa League winner.
That represented a trophy-laden run of seasons between 2012-13 and 2017-18. Getting back to winning ways would be a story for the ages.