Matchday Pundit

A Short Reunion That Never Quite Took Off
Football fans have a habit of remembering big signings for the feelings they created in the
moment rather than for what eventually happened on the pitch. When Paul Pogba signed for AS
Monaco in the summer of 2025, the feeling was one of cautious optimism mixed with genuine
curiosity. Here was a World Cup winner, a player who had once been one of the most expensive
footballers on the planet, arriving in the Principality after surviving a doping suspension that had
threatened to end his career altogether. It felt like the beginning of a redemption story, the kind
that football loves to tell.

That story has now reached an unexpected chapter. AS Monaco and Paul Pogba have mutually
agreed to terminate his contract, officially bringing his time at the club to a close and making him
a free agent once again. What was supposed to be a two year project designed to help a proven
talent rebuild his career instead turned into a spell defined almost entirely by fitness problems,
limited appearances, and a growing sense that the physical toll of the past few years had simply
caught up with him.

How We Got Here
To understand why this news matters, it helps to rewind slightly. Pogba’s career had been in a
difficult place since he left Manchester United on a free transfer in 2022. His return to Juventus,
the club where he had once been one of the most dominant midfielders in Europe, did not go as
planned. Injuries limited him to just a handful of appearances, and in September 2023 he was
provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance. He always maintained that
the positive test was the result of a supplement he had been given without knowing it contained a
prohibited ingredient, but the sporting authorities handed him an initial four year ban in February
2024.
That ban was eventually reduced to eighteen months after an appeal, which meant Pogba was
free to return to professional football in the spring of 2025. His contract with Juventus had
already been terminated by mutual agreement during the suspension, so when the ban was
lifted, he was a free agent with something to prove and very little football in his legs. Monaco
stepped in and offered him a route back, signing him on a two year deal that would have run until
the summer of 2027. It was framed, fairly or not, as one last opportunity for a hugely talented
player to show he still belonged at the top level.

A Season Defined By Absence
The numbers from Pogba’s time at Monaco tell their own story. Across a season and the
beginning of a second, he made only a handful of competitive appearances for the club, totalling
little more than one hundred minutes of actual playing time. For a player of his profile, that is a
strikingly small return. Injuries were the recurring theme throughout, with muscular problems and
setbacks interrupting any attempt at building rhythm or match fitness.
There were flashes that reminded people why Monaco had taken the gamble in the first place.
He was present, for example, when the club recorded a memorable win away at Liverpool, a
result that showed the level Monaco were capable of competing at during this period. But
moments like that were the exception rather than the rule. Reports throughout the past year
described a club that was increasingly patient with a player they clearly still believed in, even as
the on field returns failed to materialise.
By the end of last year, according to several French outlets including Nice Matin, Monaco’s
hierarchy had already begun to have internal doubts about whether the arrangement was
sustainable. Pogba reportedly asked the club for more time and more patience, and to their
credit, Monaco gave him that. It simply was not enough to turn things around.

The Injury That Changed Everything
The final push toward termination appears to have come during Monaco’s pre season
preparations this summer. Pogba suffered a fresh muscular injury during a training camp in
England, adding yet another setback to a list that was already long. For a club trying to build a
squad capable of competing on multiple fronts, and with a new head coach in Filipe Luis having
recently replaced Sebastien Pocognoli, the timing made a difficult decision easier to justify.
Reports from BBC Sport and several other outlets suggested discussions over an early exit were
already underway before the injury, with Major League Soccer repeatedly mentioned as a
possible next destination, including previous links to clubs such as DC United and Inter Miami.
The new injury complicated the immediate picture for any transfer, but it does not appear to have
changed the fundamental direction of travel. Monaco had reached the conclusion that continuing
to wait for Pogba to reach full fitness was no longer a realistic plan.

What Monaco Actually Said
When the termination was confirmed, Monaco did not frame it as a story of failure. In their official
statement, the club acknowledged that the objectives set for Pogba when he signed had only
been partially achieved, a diplomatic way of describing a spell that simply did not deliver the
football everyone had hoped for. At the same time, the club made a point of praising the player
as a person and as a professional.
Monaco specifically highlighted his mindset, his determination, and what they described as his
unwavering high standards. The statement also noted that even while sidelined with injury,
Pogba had a positive influence on the squad, sharing his experience and his football knowledge
with younger teammates. It is the kind of language clubs often use when a relationship ends
amicably rather than acrimoniously, and by most accounts, that appears to be an accurate
description of how things concluded between the two parties.
On the financial side, reports indicate Monaco are prepared to honour a significant portion of the
money owed to Pogba as part of the settlement, potentially continuing payments through to what
would have been the natural end of his contract in the summer of 2027. That kind of arrangement
is not unusual when a club decides to part ways with a player early, particularly one who joined
on a free transfer and represented relatively little risk in terms of transfer fees paid.

Why This Matters Beyond One Player
It would be easy to read this story purely as an individual footballer struggling with fitness, but
there is a broader context worth sitting with. Pogba’s career has become something of a case
study in how quickly things can unravel for even the most gifted players once injuries, off field
controversy, and time start working against them at the same time.
At his peak, Pogba was one of the most complete midfielders in world football. He combined
physical presence with genuine technical quality, a passing range that few players in his position
could match, and a habit of producing decisive moments in the biggest games. He won the World
Cup with France in 2018, lifted the Europa League and League Cup with Manchester United, and
added four Serie A titles along with domestic cups during his time at Juventus. He also won the
Under 20 World Cup with France back in 2013, the same year he claimed the Golden Boy award
as the best young player in Europe.
That history is precisely why this latest setback carries weight. This is not a fringe player whose
struggles go largely unnoticed. Every twist in Pogba’s career, for better or worse, tends to
become a major talking point, partly because of what he has already achieved and partly
because football has always been fascinated by unfulfilled potential.

The Uncertainty Ahead
As of now, nothing has been confirmed about where Pogba goes next, or indeed whether he
continues playing at all. He turned thirty three this year, an age where injuries tend to have a
longer lasting impact and recovery windows shrink. Reports have openly questioned whether he
might consider retirement rather than pursuing another comeback attempt.
At the same time, interest has reportedly come from Major League Soccer, a competition that
has increasingly positioned itself as an attractive destination for established European talent
looking for a fresh start, a different competitive environment, and in some cases a lighter overall
schedule than the major European leagues. Clubs like DC United and Inter Miami have been
mentioned in connection with Pogba in the past, although nothing concrete has been reported
since the latest injury complicated his immediate availability.
There is also the simple reality that clubs considering signing him now do so with open eyes.
Everyone in the game is aware of his injury history over the past several seasons. Any team that
brings him in will almost certainly do so with modest expectations around game time in the short
term, treating him as a long term project rather than an immediate first choice starter.

A Career at a Crossroads
There is something quietly poignant about watching a player who once seemed destined for the
very top of the sport now facing a decision about whether his playing days are even worth
continuing. Pogba has never lacked talent. What he has lacked, particularly across the second
half of his career, is the good fortune of a body that cooperates with his ambitions.
Whatever happens next, his departure from Monaco closes another chapter in a story that has
already had more twists than most. From Manchester United hero to Juventus disappointment,
from a doping suspension that threatened to end everything to a redemption attempt in the south
of France that never quite got off the ground, Pogba’s career has rarely followed a straight line.
For Monaco, life moves on. The club remains focused on its season ahead under its new head
coach, and the financial settlement with Pogba, while significant, is unlikely to derail their broader
plans. For Pogba himself, the coming weeks and months will likely determine much more than
just his next club. They may well determine whether we see him on a football pitch again at all.

A Quick Timeline of the Key Moments
Sometimes the clearest way to understand a long and winding story is to lay it out in order.
Pogba left Manchester United on a free transfer in the summer of 2022, returning to Juventus for
a second spell that many expected would reignite his best form. Instead, persistent injuries
limited him to a small number of appearances during that period.
In September 2023 came the moment that changed everything, a positive doping test that led to
a provisional suspension. By February 2024 that suspension had become a four year ban, a
punishment that felt, at the time, like it might effectively end his career at the highest level. His
contract with Juventus was terminated by mutual agreement shortly afterward, leaving him
without a club and facing an uncertain future.
An appeal later reduced the ban to eighteen months, and by the spring of 2025 Pogba was free
to return to professional football. Monaco gave him that chance, signing him on a two year
contract that summer with the ambition of helping him rebuild both his fitness and his reputation.
Now, just over a year later, that chapter has closed, with the club and player agreeing to
terminate the deal after a spell repeatedly disrupted by injury.

The Business Side of a Difficult Situation
Beyond the emotional and sporting angles, there is also a practical business dimension to this
story that is worth acknowledging. Signing a player of Pogba’s stature as a free agent, even one
with a complicated recent history, still involves significant commitments in terms of wages and
support staff. When that investment does not translate into playing time, clubs have to make
difficult calculations about whether continuing to wait is the right use of resources.
Monaco’s willingness to negotiate a settlement that reportedly continues to pay Pogba through
much of what would have been his original contract term suggests the club wanted to handle the
departure responsibly rather than simply cutting ties. That approach also protects the relationship
between the two parties, which matters in a sport where reputations and goodwill can influence
future dealings, whether that involves transfers, loan agreements, or simply how a former player
speaks about a club once he has moved on.

Matchday Pundit