Paul Pogba: SACK your witch doctor and hire a new one
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 31 Aug 2022 16:18 BST
- 4 min read
In a summer packed full of outrageous and, at times, unbelievable news (such as Harry Maguire joining Barcelona to play tiki-taka), none have been more outrageous and seemingly unbelievable than the Paul Pogba-Kylian Mbappe witchcraft story that broke this past week.
Pogba released a statement on Sunday suggesting his brother Mathias Pogba, in conjunction with a criminal gang, had sought to extort €13 million from him, with AFP reporting that the French authorities have launched an investigation.
In response, Mathias promised to shine a light on a series of 'revelations' around his brother, in which he claimed that Pogba had been practicing witchcraft to avoid injury and had also placed a curse on international team-mate Kylian Mbappe.
Since then, the tabloids and gossip sites have had a field day, with all kinds of bizarre (yet unconfirmed) stories being reported.
The latest from CNews claims that Pogba confirmed to police during their investigations that he did in fact hire a witch doctor to cast a spell.
🚨 Paul Pogba has confirmed to police investigators that he did in fact pay a witch doctor to cast a spell, but to protect himself from injury and not to cast a curse on Kylian Mbappé.
(Source: @CNEWS)— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) August 31, 2022
However, he insisted that the witchcraft was used to protect himself from injury and not to put a curse on Mbappe.
If this is true, then Pogba needs to hire himself a new witch doctor because the current one is failing dismally to get and keep him fit.
He only played one friendly game since returning to Juventus this summer before going down with another injury.
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He pulled up in pre-season training, further aggravating a long-running meniscus problem.
There were great fears that Pogba was going to need an operation and be out for up to six months, thus ruling him out of the World Cup.
But in the end, the 29-year-old opted for conservative treatment and he should return later this month or next. The risk of the injury returning remaining, though, without proper surgical intervention.
This injury comes as no surprise given his fitness record over the past three seasons.
How many injuries has Pogba had?
From the start of the 2019-20 season until the end of the previous campaign, Pogba sustained eight different injuries that kept him sidelined.
In total he missed a whopping 72 games due to injury or illness over a period of 33 months. That number has now risen to 75 games in 34 months.
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.
Last season, 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 to Juventus, and their fears have been realised.
Pogba’s witchdoctor cast these spells earlier this year – so clearly they are not working. Time to hire a new witch, Paul!
