Pogba's Monaco comeback is already over

The latest chapter in a career that keeps finding new lows

It was supposed to be the quiet, uncomplicated restart. Monaco — not the circus of Juventus, not the weight of Manchester United — just a chance to play football again after a doping ban that ran from 2023 into 2024 wiped out what should have been the final productive years of his prime.

Instead, Football Italia reports that Pogba has suffered a new injury at the club and is set to leave as a free agent. The outlet does not specify what the injury is or how serious it is, and Monaco have not made any official statement at the time of writing. Treat this as unconfirmed until the club or his representatives say otherwise.

The career in full is genuinely hard to look at

Pogba won the World Cup with France in 2018. He was, for a stretch around that tournament, the best box-to-box midfielder on the planet — the kind of player who made a 60-yard switch look like a shrug. Then came the injuries at United, the return to Juventus that never really clicked, and then the four-year doping ban handed down in 2023 after a testosterone violation, later reduced on appeal to 18 months.

He was 33 when he signed with Monaco. The idea was plausible, just about. Plenty of players have rebuilt at that age. The problem is Pogba has not had a sustained run of fitness since before the pandemic.

Is this the end?

That is the question his situation keeps forcing, and there is still no clean answer. A free agent at 33 with a doping suspension on his record and a new injury is not an easy sell to any club with ambitions. The market for that profile is thin.

Pogba has not said anything publicly — at least nothing on record — and until Monaco confirm the situation or his agent speaks, the Football Italia report is the only thread to pull. But even if the details shift, the direction of travel has been obvious for a while.

He deserved a better ending than this. He may not get one.