Players willing to take a pay cut
©IMAGO
Paul Pogba (31) is about to be eliminated from Juventus Turin after his doping ban. “Paul was a great player. “Last year and this year we were forced to invest in other players and our position is clear: at the moment our squad is full,” said Juventus sports director Cristiano Giuntoli on Saturday to the TV channel “Sky Sport Italia”.
With Teun Koopmeiners (26), Khéphren Thuram (23) and Douglas Luiz (26), Juventus signed three players in the summer to play in Pogba’s positions. In addition, at the end of last season, Nicolò Fagioli (23) returned from his ban for illegal sports betting. Most recently it was said that Juventus was working on terminating the contract with the Frenchman, which runs until 2026.
Pogba ready to take salary cut at Juventus after doping ban
Pogba had high testosterone levels during a check last August after a Serie A game between Juventus and Udinese Calcio. The B sample confirmed the result. Pogba had appealed the decision to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) and denied having used banned means to improve performance. Pogba admitted that he had taken a nutritional supplement whose package leaflet had mentioned performance-enhancing substances. However, the responsible Italian sports court banned him for four years at the end of February.
However, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport was of the opinion that Pogba had not intentionally doped and in October shortened the doping ban for the Juventus midfielder from four years to 18 months. This means Pogba could play football again from March next year.
The ex-national player had assured that he wanted to play for Juventus again and would accept a reduced salary for this. During this suspension, Pogba’s salary was reduced from 10.5 million euros gross (8 million euros net) to the minimum set by the Italian association for contract footballers: around 42,000 euros.
