Paul Pogba, a bittersweet reunion with France and life on the outside looking in (2024)

Bearhugs. Laughter. Embraces. Phone on record capturing the inner sanctum for social media.

For a moment inside the France dressing room at a major tournament, it was as if Paul Pogba had never been away. Here, again, was the charismatic leader who was not so long ago at the epicentre of their team.

Back in his element, what a strange and bittersweet emotion it must have been. Like a mirage, close enough to touch but distant enough to be a simulation of reality. Here is Paul Pogba with the French tricolour on his chest — only instead of being embroidered on a football shirt, this time it features on a Moncler puffer jacket. Here is Paul Pogba in the thick of it with France’s best players — only now he is just visiting them.

𝐿𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑠 💙@paulpogba #FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/SPq1vVsRua

— Equipe de France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) July 2, 2024

In his former life, Pogba was right here with ‘les gars’ (the guys), competing together and living a tournament together. However beautiful it was to reunite with his old midfield partner N’Golo Kante, to share a joke with Antoine Griezmann, to give and feel the love of the team-mates with whom he won the 2018 World Cup, it was impossible not to ponder how different the experience in Dusseldorf on Monday evening might have been.

Two years of serious problems — blighted by injury, derailed by traumatic family threats, and then halted by a doping ban — have brought Pogba to this weird place. A non-playing footballer enduring an exile that elicits sadness in most of his old team-mates and coaches.

The reunion was a boost for everyone.

The French Football Federation (FFF) decided to invite him to their round-of-16 game against Belgium, and he arrived with typical Pogba-esque energy. “It is like the song, Here Comes The Sun… And here comes the prodigal son,” said French newspaper L’Equipe’s seasoned France-watcher Vincent Duluc. “He is loved by the players. He brings joy.”

It seems the benefits behind the idea of bringing Pogba into the fold were two-fold.

Injecting some of that buoyancy into the dressing room of a team who have struggled to spark as they trudged through the group stage was a helpful lift. But this was equally about lifting Pogba. Even if he is proven guilty of the doping offence with which he is charged, among his footballing brothers he is not perceived as a bad guy. There is a human empathy there that overrides everything.

Pogba is regarded as a victim of a far more complicated situation. A family feud, which included alleged blackmail, extortion threats and intimidation by armed men, had an understandably profound impact. His head was messed up. Life for Pogba has never been the same since.

Alphonse Areola summed it up. “He brought us nothing but positives,” the France and West Ham United goalkeeper said. “We all know Paul. He’s someone who has a zest for life, who’s always been there to bring his little touch of fun, positivity and, above all, footballing quality. Now we’re here, we support him and it’s up to us to stand by him, too.”

This February, Pogba was given a four-year ban from football after testing positive for raised levels of testosterone after his Italian club Juventus’ 3-0 win against Udinese last August. He maintains the ruling was “incorrect” and that the full story will become clear when he is free of legal restrictions.

His appeal currently sits with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). He is still waiting for a hearing date, rumoured to be soon, but feels at a standstill until there is a definitive outcome.

In some ways, that was another reason for the FFF inviting Pogba to be with them this week. Not only is it a show of support from those who care about him, but it is also, pragmatically, more acceptable to invite him while his status is in limbo.

It would be a PR challenge, to say the least, to extend an official invitation to an officially convicted doper.

So, the Pogba show rolled into Dusseldorf. He dropped into Casa Bleue, the fan zone organised for France supporters in whichever city they visit. Pogba was serenaded by the gathering and, true to his image, took a selfie with the crowd at his back.

𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗼 𝗣𝗼𝗴𝗯𝗮, 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗼 𝗣𝗼𝗴𝗯𝗮…😍📣@paulpogba a rendu visite aux supporters des Bleus à la Casa Bleue de Düsseldorf ! 🇫🇷#FiersdetreBleus #Euro2024 pic.twitter.com/rMjG1jT41d

— FFF (@FFF) July 1, 2024

Then he attended the game as one of the official dignitaries, before visiting the dressing room to reconnect with his old team-mates.

Throughout the tournament, he has had lots of contact with them, always sending good luck messages. He is particularly close to Marcus Thuram and they speak regularly. Pogba was with Marcus’ dad, and 1998 World Cup winner with France, Lilian at the match.

He also remains close to Didier Deschamps, who he regards as a father figure.

The France head coach’s trust and affection for Pogba has never waned. “I know him well enough as a player; since he was here with us, since he was very young,” Deschamps said. “I can’t imagine he could have deliberately taken something. That’s not the way he works. It has already been a long time — a year in August.

“I hope he can rediscover the happiness of being a footballer as soon as possible.”

What do you do when your life suddenly takes an abrupt turn?

Pogba has been popping up in various places this summer. He recently accompanied former Manchester United team-mate Eric Bailly on a charity trip to the Ivory Coast. He has no real affiliation with Bailly’s home country but liked the idea of joining in, and visited mosques there and gave food to impoverished children. He is planning a similar trip in the future.

Otherwise, he is spending time with his family, with three young children, and training and reading to keep body and mind in tune.

Pogba has been watching all of France’s games, even though he remains “sad and frustrated” that he is not able to take part. Considering France’s stodgy performances so far, it is impossible to imagine they would not have conjured up at least one goal from open play with Pogba in the mix.

It’s easy to pine for that perfect click in midfield; Kante and Pogba in tandem, protecting, cajoling, improvising, grasping a game at its heart. Pogba on a good day, with his swagger-ometer cranked up to full, was a sight to behold.

He didn’t always live up to the hype, and his Manchester United years (2016-22) and subsequent second spell at Juventus were erratic compared to the performances that made his name when he first arrived on the scene at the Turin club 12 years ago. He always had big ideas about what kind of player he wanted to be.

“I wanted to take the best qualities of Patrick (Vieira) and integrate the offensive elements of an (Andres) Iniesta, of a (Zinedine) Zidane,” he explained. “To try to make a new midfielder, a new player: Pogba.”

He became a significant leader of the French team at that 2018 World Cup in Russia. He set the tone before every game when he announced his catchphrase: “I don’t want to go home.” It is something that lingers in the dressing room today. He was essential to the spirit of the team, leading the way with his impromptu team-talk at the final against Croatia, a game he embellished with a goal and an assist before he led the celebrations in inimitable fashion.

He is 31 now. How much do France miss him on the pitch?

“It depends which Paul Pogba we are talking about,” says Duluc. “He was a fantastic leader at the Euro in 2021, but then he lost the ball for Switzerland’s equaliser… ” (France ended up eliminated that day on penalties.)

The enigma of this very particular player, so inherently talented and yet someone of whom the critics often expected more, was forever complex.

With France, he often seemed in his element. Things seemed to make a little more sense than they did with his clubs at times. During Russia 2018, he observed that he went “from the biggest transfer in the world to the most criticised player in the world”.

He has become used to the limelight, the polemics, the judgement, from his teenage-prodigy years. Whether he ever gets back on the pitch to answer more questions remains to be seen. While the CAS case remains unexamined, he, and all his friends in the French camp, can only cling to the hope he is not finished yet.

“I am still a football player,” Pogba says. “I am still here, still positive. I have an opportunity to fight what in my view is an injustice. We’ll see.”

(Top photo: Pogba watches France play in Dusseldorf; Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Since football fandom kicked in in the 1970s, the path to football writing started as a teenager scribbling for a fanzine. After many years with the Guardian and the Observer, covering the game from grassroots to World Cup finals, Amy Lawrence joined The Athletic in 2019.