Paul Pogba ‘not welcome’ at Man United amid return bid
Paul Pogba is “not welcome” to train with his former club Man United as he bids to get match fit ahead of his return to action, talkSport have reported.
The midfielder will be allowed to return to training with a club next January, and begin playing again in March 2025.
That comes after a four-year ban he received in September 2023 for a positive drugs test, was recently reduced to 18 months.
Pogba is now a free agent after reaching an agreement with Juventus to terminate his contract, meaning he is on the hunt for a new club.
The Frenchman had two spells with Man United from 2009-2012 and 2016-2022, making well over 200 appearances for the club, winning a League Cup and Europa League title.
However, he will apparently not be accepted back at the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground to work on his fitness, before a return to action early next year.
Man United block on Paul Pogba logical as Ruben Amorim starts
Football Insider Opinion
It does make sense for the midfielder’s former club not to allow him back there to train in the coming months.
Ruben Amorim has of course just recently taken over at Old Trafford so this is a key period for the club.
There are high hopes for what the 39-year-old can do while in charge at Man United, after a long spell of relative mediocrity for the 13-times Premier League champions.
It is therefore vital that the Portuguese manager makes a strong start to his time in charge of the Red Devils, to lay the foundations for his time there and put his mark on the side.
With that in mind, it is unlikely that many distractions will be wanted behind the scenes, so that full focus can be given to picking up results and moving forward.
The return of Pogba is something that could generate lots of additional attention away from those issues, which the club may well want to avoid.
As a result Man United may be right to prevent their former player from training with them even if it could hinder his efforts to find a new club.
In other news, Man United’s stance on signing a new left-back has become clearer.
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