This is Paul Pogba’s side of the story. Some of you won’t want to hear it, your minds are already made up.
Flash. Arrogant. Cocky. Pogba has heard them all.
Speak to him and he would explain hurtful opinions come with the territory of being a public figure. He’d tell you he takes it on the chin, with the pinch of salt required to ensure negativity doesn’t infiltrate his family life.
What he may not reveal, however, is an incident last September that illustrates the chaos he can’t escape.
Pogba clandestinely flew from Turin to Paris to attend to a personal matter only to be greeted with a circus of paparazzi upon his arrival.
French star and World Cup winner Paul Pogba has been accused of being flash, arrogant and cocky, but the one accusation he won’t stand for is being labelled as a drugs cheat
The midfielder was given a four-hear ban by the Tribunale Nazionale Anti-doping earlier this month in relation to a positive test for DHEA, a banned substance that boosts testosterone
Pogba is now fighting for his career as the four-year ban would take him to the age of 35
It threw Pogba — only his trusted inner circle were party to his travel arrangements. To this day, he can’t fathom how the photographers knew.
But that’s life as Paul Pogba. Everyone wants a piece and everyone’s got a view —generally critical — of a footballer originally rejected by France’s famed national football centre in Clairefontaine only to lift the World Cup years later.
He lives with the hostility, as much as it irks him. Yet there are certain accusations he isn’t prepared to stand for. Namely, being labelled a drugs cheat.
And today Mail Sport can take you to the heart of the doping crisis that leaves one of football’s most iconic figures fighting for his career, integrity and legacy.
The emotion, anger, mitigation and regret of a scandal that has left Pogba ‘distraught’ but one that has triggered his inherent fighting spirit.
Regardless of your personal views on Pogba the individual, the thought of never witnessing the midfielder rip through central midfield with the venom and ferocity that compelled Manchester United to spend £89million to re-acquire his services in 2016 should sadden us all.
A football player for the ages. Think Steven Gerrard. Think Clarence Seedorf. Box-to-box. Power. Poise. Ability. What a waste it would be if he never played again.
But Pogba isn’t taking this lying down. If you were to ask him why – this is…