Real Madrid or Riyals? Five clubs that could sign Paul Pogba

7 Oct 2024 06:00 CDT
5 min read

Paul Pogba can plan a return to football as his doping ban was reduced to 18 months.

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The Juventus midfielder was initially banned for four years in February 2024 after testing positive for an illegally elevated level of testosterone in his system following the first game of the 2023/24 season.

Pogba has always claimed he breached the rules unintentionally, and after appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) his sentence was reduced to 18 months from the date he was provisionally suspended, September 2023.

Now he can resume training in January 2025, and begin playing in March. "Finally the nightmare is over," Pogba said in a statement.

Juventus have him under contract until June 2026, but it is expected that they will look to terminate his contract. This would make Pogba a free agent in January, so we've looked at five clubs that could sign the French midfielder.

1. Real Madrid

"Every footballer would love to play for Real Madrid and would dream about that. It’s a dream of mine, so why not one day?" Paul Pogba said that four years ago in 2020. And while a move never materialised then, why not now?

Pogba's dream of playing for Real Madrid makes sense given the legacy of French maestro Zinedine Zidane. Moreover, Los Blancos are in need of a midfield maestro following the retirement of Toni Kroos.

While Pogba isn't as metronomic as the German, he would bring an element of creativity that the Madrid midfield has been sorely missing this season. Moreover, he'd get to play with many of his compatriots like Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and, oh yeah, that guy Kylian Mbappe.

"For example, in the middle, we had Paul Pogba. With him, you just have to lower your head, run, make a call and you know that the ball will arrive at your foot," said Mbappe in July of this year. Imagine that deadly combination being brought back at the Santiago Bernabeu?

© IMAGO - Paul Pogba could sign for anyone in January.

2. Al-Ittihad

One of the premium destinations for older footballers these days is the Saudi Pro League. Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo showed just how much money there was to be made, many older players have taken their talents to Saudi.

Many Pro League clubs could afford Pogba, but Al-Ittihad have Laurent Blanc as their coach as well as Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante and Moussa Diaby on their books. Reuniting with Kante in midfield would be particularly appealing to Pogba as it'd mean having to do much less defensive work!

3. LA Galaxy

Lionel Messi, like the Tolkien-esque legend he is, journeyed to the West in his old age. With Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez in tow, the Argentine has set-up a retirement commune for Barcelona legends with Inter Miami.

Having never played for the Blaugrana, Pogba wouldn't head there, but the MLS would be a very attractive proposition to rebuild his career and star power. Los Angeles makes a lot of sense, with the LA Galaxy in need of a bit of star power to outdo their neighbours LA FC who just bagged Olivier Giroud.

Moreover, the Galaxy have a great history of European talents with David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both using the American club for a late stage career boost. And their no. 6 shirt is unoccupied as well!

4. RC Strasbourg

Any time a player becomes available the instant reaction these days is to assume Chelsea will try and sign him, but Pogba's age and position probably rule him out as he's 31 and plays in the same position as current hotshot Cole Palmer.

However BlueCo's obsession with hoovering up talent isn't limited to Chelsea. They also own RC Strasbourg in Ligue 1, and so could afford to take Pogba back to play professional football in his home country. A delightful low key venue for Pogba to rehabilitate himself before earning a big money move (and some lovely PSR relief for BlueCo) elsewhere.

© IMAGO - Could Pogba return to Manchester United?

5. Man Utd

There has been some social media talk that people would like to see Paul Pogba back at Man Utd once his ban is lifted (after waxing nostalgic about how good he was during his second spell at the club), and while that makes almost no sense on a financial or sporting level, it would be very funny to see how many different shades of red Graeme Souness would turn.