When Paul Pogba almost joined PSG

When Paris Saint-Germain face AS Monaco in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, Paul Pogba (32) won’t be on the pitch for either side, although he is contracted with the latter.

La Pioche joined the Principality club on a two-year deal in the summer, following the end of his doping ban. He has played just over 30 minutes of football across three games and has not featured at all since the start of December. 

As a result, he has been deregistered from Monaco’s Champions League squad. Regardless, he was not fit to face PSG in the second-leg of the play-off, during which Les Monégasques will look to overturn a one-goal deficit (2-3). 

But he could have been representing Les Parisiens instead. As reported by L’Équipe, in the winter of 2022, Pogba, ahead of the expiry of his deal at Manchester United, there was interest from Juventus, Real Madrid, and PSG. Sources at the Ligue 1 club ensure that it was Pogba who reached out to PSG. In any case, there were concrete talks with the then-sporting director Leonardo. 

However, talks came to an end at the end of the winter without a positive conclusion, with PSG opting to end their “bling-bling” project. He would ultimately, therefore, return to Juventus that summer. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle