When Juventus re-signed Paul Pogba on a free transfer in 2022 they must have thought they were getting a steal.

A World Cup-winning French international, one of the most decorated midfielders in the world, and a player who, at 28, was arguably entering the prime of his football career.

At that price they would probably have taken two and spare one for emergencies.

I suspect, however, as the dust settles on Pogba’s newly acquired four-year drug-fuelled ban from football, they may not be looking back on the signing with quite as much fondness.

Being ruled out of kicking a ball in anger until he is 33 caps a staggering fall from grace for a player who was once the darling of world football and the most expensive player on the planet.

No matter how good you are, you are only a few unlucky injuries, a few attitude problems or a few mistakenly consumed pills away from everything turning to crap

In truth, it all started to go a little pear-shaped when he left Juventus to return to Manchester United in 2016, with José Mourinho planning to build his entire team around the box-to-box star.

Although he wasn’t awful at United in those first couple of seasons, he was still a long way away from the dominant, towering midfield presence he had been in Italy and on the international stage for France.

Then he started to get grumpy, led the dressing room rebellion against Mourinho, continued to underperform under Solskjaer, and ultimately wound down his United contract spending most of his time sitting on the physio’s lap discussing groin strains and hair dye.

Despite all that, Juventus would still have been understandably thrilled at securing the return of the talismanic midfielder who had been instrumental in one of the most successful periods of the club’s recent history. But to say that the move hasn’t gone according to plan would be a making an understatement of epic proportions.

During his first season back in Turin, Pogba only played 108 minutes in Serie A, made just three appearances in the Europa League and managed just 11 minutes in the Coppa Italia. Considering his wages, that was an awful lot of money going out for not an awful lot of football.

The second season wasn’t going much better either. Before the failed drugs test stopped him playing in October, the perpetually injured player had barely played anyway, only managing 51 minutes as a substitute.

Although Pogba has said he will appeal the ban, you rarely see these things completely overturned even if, as the player insists, he didn’t knowingly take a banned substance. Reduced, maybe, but not entirely dismissed.

Which means that whatever happens, we are unlikely to see him on a football pitch for at least 18 months. And, when you combine that ban with his injury record, I don’t see any big team gambling on him when he is free to play again.

Which means we may have seen the last of Pogba.

This whole thing seems like such a massive waste of talent, primarily because it is, but it should also serve as a warning to young up-and-coming stars not to take their careers for granted.

No matter how good you are, you are only a few unlucky injuries, a few attitude problems or a few mistakenly consumed pills away from everything turning to crap.

 

Title time?

Is today’s game between Liverpool and Manchester City really the title decider some are claiming?

I’m going to say no for two blindingly obvious reasons.

Firstly, there is a lot of football to be played by both teams after today’s clash, more than enough for things to change dramatically once again whatever happens at Anfield.

Secondly, and more importantly, calling this a title decider would exclude Arsenal from the equation. And that, based on current form, would be ludicrous.

There is no doubt that whoever wins today will have a psychological advantage for the run-in. And a points advantage as well. But that is about it. As a direct clash, it is not just another game. But there won’t be any awards given out to the winners today.

And let’s not forget, there is always the possibility that the two teams will, as often happens in these circumstances, cancel each other out and share the points.

That would probably make City happier than Liverpool, for obvious reasons, but it could also play into the hands of the Gunners.

Whatever the result, there’s a long way to go, and today is just another day at the title race office.

 

Nothing but bullying

Another week, another match and another spectacular low for Sheffield United.

The 6-0 mauling by Arsenal on Monday night made it four straight home games in which they have conceded five or more goals.

But what I will say to all the pundits and experts who have spent the last few days sticking in the knife is ‘shut the hell up’.

Talking about it being the worst performance they have ever seen, and a painful mismatch, is not some startling revelation or deep and meaningful insight. It is merely stating the obvious.

But even more irritating are those people who have been saying United are so bad they don’t deserve a place in the top flight.

While apologising for not being good enough for your elitist little club, if memory serves, being good enough to compete when you arrive in the Premiership is not a prerequisite for getting promoted to it in the first place. Once again, based on my vague recollections, that is down to an old-fashioned concept called promotion.

We earned our place in the Premier League, and now we are busy earning our place back in the league below.

So, dismount from your high horses of perceived superiority and cut some slack please for a broken, demoralised collection of players and repeatedly humiliated group of supporters.

We know our performances are appalling, we know we are plummeting towards the Championship, but we don’t need a showering of insults on our way down, thank you very much.

 

E-mail: James.calvert@timesofmalta.com

Twitter: @maltablade