Former France midfielder Paul Pogba joined Monaco on a two-year contract on Saturday in a bid to relaunch a stellar career derailed by injuries and a doping ban .
Former France midfielderPaul Pogbajoined Monaco on a two-year contract on Saturday in a bid to relaunch a stellar career derailed by injuries and adoping ban.
Monaco confirmed the widely expected transfer on theclub website, and in a videoposted on X, with the 32-year-old Pogba wearing the club’s red-and-white jersey.
The former Juventus and Manchester United player will play in the French top flight for the first time.
Monaco finished third in Ligue 1 last season and Pogba, who has been without a club since leaving Juventus last year, gets the chance to play Champions League soccer again providing Monaco gets through qualifying.
Pogba honed his technique in France at Le Havre’s academy but signed with Manchester United at age 16 in 2009.
Previously one of the world’s top midfielders, Pogba made more headlines in recent years with hisoff-field problems.
Last year, Juventus said it came to “a mutual agreement” with him to cancel his contract despite the 2018 World Cup winner having aban for dopingslashed. The Serie A club never seemedenthusiasticabout welcoming him back after hisfour-year banfor doping was cut to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Pogbatested positive for testosteronein 2023 and was handed the maximum punishment by Italy’s anti-doping court. CAS judges reduced it as they acknowledged alack of intentand said his positive test was the result of erroneously taking a prescribed supplement.
In 2016, Paul became the then-most expensive soccer player in history when hereturned to Unitedfrom Juventus for a fee of 105 million euros ($116 million).
He has played91 times for Franceand scored in theWorld Cup finalwhen Les Bleus beat Croatia 4-2.
Kylian Mbappé, who also scored in the 2018 final and enjoyed a good relationship with Pogba,posted a messageon Instagram saying “Pogback” and “Daghe Munegu” (which in Monaco dialect means “Go Monaco.”)
Overall, Pogba netted 39 goals for United in 226 games.
He returned to Juventus as a free agent in 2022, but injuries limited him to 12 matches in his second spell at the club.
Monaco’s signing of Pogba shows an intent to mount a stronger challenge for the French title next season after wasting a good start last season.
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AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire in Paris contributed.
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AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press