“It's excellent news”: Didier Deschamps welcomes Paul Pogba's return in March 2025 after his doping suspension

Didier Deschamps et Paul Pogba de nouveau réunis en mars prochain ? MAXPPP – Fabrizio Carabelli/IPA

“There is this light that is coming back on” for Paul Pogba, said France team coach Didier Deschamps on Monday, October 7, regarding the reduction of the player's doping suspension from four years to 18 months

“He will have steps to take, but it is excellent news, he will be able to play again from March”, added the coach on the French Football Federation (FFF) website.

“La Pioche”, 91 caps and 11 goals for the French national team, can hope to return to the French team in 2025, with which he was world champion in 2018.

“I spoke to him on the phone for quite a while, as I did during this whole period which was very complicated for him”, added Deschamps, mentioning “the injuries, plus the private problems he had (a blackmail case against him involving one of his brothers, Editor's note), plus this suspension".

"It's still a heavy sanction"

Pogba, still under contract with Juventus Turin where he is not expected to stay, had undergone a positive doping test for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), for which he has always pleaded accidental contamination via a food supplement prescribed by a doctor consulted at United States.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced his sentence to 18 months. “It's still a heavy sanction, less heavy”, Deschamps concluded, but Pogba “knows that in March 2025, he will become a player again and since he loves football and playing so much, it's excellent news for him.”