Paul Pogba out of World Cup: Is his top-level career over?
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 1 Nov 2022 10:17 GMT
- 5 min read
Paul Pogba is out of the World Cup. The news everyone feared was confirmed on Monday by Pogba’s agent Rafaela Pimenta following a thigh injury the midfielder sustained in Juventus training.
Pogba had already been facing a race against time to make the finals in Qatar later this month.
He had been recovering from surgery for a torn meniscus which has prevented him from playing a single game this season for Juventus.
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Pogba had just returned to group training and was hoping to gain a few minutes for Juve before Didier Deschamps announced his France World Cup squad on November 13.
He would have arrived at the World Cup horribly short of match fitness even if Deschamps had called him up, but now his dream of playing in a third World Cup is over.
And the way things are going, it’s quite conceivable – at the age of 29 – that he doesn’t play in another World Cup again.
There must be serious questions asked now about Pogba’s physical state and whether his body is breaking down.
His injury record over the last three years is nothing short of abysmal.
How many injuries has Pogba had?
From the start of the 2019-20 season until now, Pogba has sustained 10 different injuries that have kept him sidelined.
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In total he has missed a whopping 101 club games due to injury or illness during that time. It will be 104 by the time club football takes a break for the World Cup. The number rises to over 120 when we include national team matches.
In the 2019-20 season, Pogba made just 16 Premier League appearances after two separate ankle problems forced him to miss 40 games in all competitions that campaign.
In 2021-22, Pogba had another long stretch on the treatment table from November to February due to a hamstring injury. He then saw his Man Utd career ended in April by a calf injury.
These persistent injuries were a concern for some Juventus fans upon his return on a free transfer this summer, and they were right to be concerned.
Since returning to Turin, Pogba has not played a single competitive match. He featured for 45 minutes in a pre-season friendly against Guadalajara before injuring his meniscus in training the very next day in the United States.
Initially he attempted to undergo conservative therapy before eventually conceding that he had to go under the knife.
But just as he was close to a comeback, he suffered another injury – this time to his thigh.
He has not played competitively since April 19, a 4-0 thrashing for Man Utd by Liverpool.
Pogba turns 30 in March. He has scored five league goals in the last four seasons, including this one and has just one goal for France since scoring in France’s World Cup final win over Croatia in 2018.
When he did play for Man Utd in his final three seasons at the club, he was at best inconsistent and at worst a liability.
Of course, that was also down to the fact that Man Utd were something of a banter team during that time. Their team, managers and those running the club were well short of the standards required – and Pogba suffered as a result, also.
There is no doubt that Pogba remains a truly special talent, capable of moments and performances that only a few in the world can replicate.
But those moments and performances have been few and far between in the last few years.
❗️It's very likely Eduardo Camavinga will play at the World Cup in Qatar with France. Pogba and Kanté are injured and will miss it. 🇫🇷 @diarioas pic.twitter.com/7cHGHAbdwv
— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) November 1, 2022
And just getting him on the pitch – let alone at match fitness – has been extremely difficult.
To rub salt into his wounds, Juventus are a club in a Manchester United-like crisis.
They finished fourth two seasons in a row and are already out of the Champions League and Scudetto race this term.
Even finishing in the top four this season appears like it is going to be a slog, just how badly Juve are performing.
They also have the biggest injury list in all of Europe – and the most criticised medical team in Italy – with 12 players missing from this midweek’s Champions League clash with PSG.
That hardly bodes well for Pogba’s hopes of getting fit and challenging for major titles.
Everyone hopes that Pogba returns to the world-class star that we all fell in love with during his first spell at Juve – and during France’s 2018 World Cup success – but that all seems like a distant dream now.
