One battle is finished, the other one starts. In recent years, life has not been kind to Paul Pogba. The former French international has been charged with using illegal substances, and a four-year ban for doping from the Italian Anti-Doping National Tribunal followed. He appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the ban was reduced to 18 months, which means he can start training as of January 2025. His club at the time, Juventus, still decided to cut ties with the Frenchman and he is now a free agent. But the other battle awaits him now. SMS reads: This is the end for the two of us!Six men linked him will go on trial on Tuesday, accused of blackmail, attempted extortion of millions of euros and holding the player at gunpoint. The case at the Paris criminal court has shocked the French football world — all the more so because the alleged perpetrators include three childhood friends and Pogba’s own brother Mathias. The six defendants in Paris are accused of attempting to squeeze 13 million euros out of Pogba.’When my children don’t behave I tell them I’ll take them to Guinea’Mathias was the one to go public in the case, publishing a video on social media in August 2022 promising revelations about his younger brother that were “likely to be explosive”. In a subsequent clip, Mathias accused Paul Pogba of casting an evil spell on his France teammate Kylian Mbappe. Paul Pogba’s lawyers and his agent Rafaela Pimenta said in a statement later the videos “came on top of threats and attempts at extortion”. Pogba told French investigators he had in March 2022 been “tricked by childhood friends” from the gritty Paris suburb where he and Mathias grew up. He accused them of snatching him before he was held at gunpoint by two hooded men with assault rifles, demanding 13 million euros for “services rendered” and blaming him for not helping them financially. Pogba said at the time that he had paid them only 100,000 euros. Paul Pogba’s lawyer Pierre-Jean Douvier declined to comment ahead of the case and his friends have all denied the allegations.##NAJAVA_MECA_8528336##
