ROME (AP) — Anti-doping prosecutors in Italy requested a maximum four-year ban for Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba on Thursday after the World Cup winner tested positive for testosterone.
Pogba opted not to negotiate a guilty plea with Italy’s anti-doping agency; The case will be tried at the country’s Anti-Doping Tribunal.
If the four-year ban is confirmed, it could end the 30-year-old Pogba’s career.
Four-year bans are the norm under the World Anti-Doping Code, but can be reduced in cases where an athlete may be found to have been unintentional doping, if the positive result is the result of contamination, or if it provides “substantial aid. “”To lend a hand to the researchers. . .
Pogba’s positive test was announced in September, following an examination carried out after Juventus’ match against Udinese on August 20. Pogba had yet to appear in the Serie A match on the Juve bench.
Pogba has not made any public comment on the matter.
“On a human level, I feel sorry for Paul,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said in October.
The doping case is another negative note for a player who has been suffering from injuries since joining Juventus from Manchester United in July last year. He was ruled out of France’s participation in last year’s World Cup final with a knee injury, played in just six Serie A games for Juventus last season and two this season.
A police investigation is also underway in France into allegations that Pogba was subjected to extortion, added by his older brother Mathias, who has denied any wrongdoing.
Pogba scored for France in a 4-2 win over Croatia in the 2018 World Cup final. He made 178 appearances for Juventus between 2012 and 2016.
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