In a summer full of terrible, and at times, unbelievable news (like Harry Maguire joining Barcelona to play tiki-taka), nothing has been more outrageous and seemingly unbelievable than the magical Paul Pogba Kylian Mbappe story that broke out last week.
Pogba issued a statement on Sunday noting that his brother Mathias Pogba, in association with a criminal gang, sought to extort 13 million euros from him, with AFP reporting that the French authorities have launched an investigation.
In response, Matthias promised to highlight a series of ‘revelations’ about his brother, in which he claimed Pogba was practicing magic to avoid injury and also put a curse on his international teammate Kylian Mbappe.
Since then, tabloids and gossip websites have had a field day, reporting all kinds of outlandish (but unconfirmed) stories.
The latest news from CNews claims that Pogba assured the police during their investigation that he had in fact hired a witch doctor to cast a spell.
🚨 Paul Pogba confirmed to police investigators that he actually paid a witch doctor to cast a spell, but to protect himself from injury and not cast a curse on Kylian Mbappe.
(source: CNEWS)
– Live news transmission (DeadlineDayLive) August 31, 2022
However, he insisted that magic was used to protect himself from injury and not to put a curse on Mbappe.
If true, Pogba needs to appoint himself a new wizard because the current one is frighteningly failing to get and keep fit.
He only played one friendly match since returning to Juventus this summer before suffering another injury.
He took off on pre-season training, which exacerbated a long-running meniscus problem.
There were major concerns that Pogba would need surgery and be out for up to six months, preventing him from participating in the World Cup.
But in the end, the 29-year-old opted for conservative treatment and will be back later this month or the next. However, the risk of infection recurring without proper surgical intervention remains.
This injury was no surprise given his fitness record over the past three seasons.
How many injuries did Pogba suffer?
From the start of the 2019-20 season until the end of the previous season, Pogba suffered eight different injuries that kept him on the sidelines.
In total, he missed a whopping 72 matches due to injury or illness over a 33-month period. That number has now increased to 75 games in 34 months.
In the 2019-20 season, Pogba made just 16 appearances in the Premier League after two separate ankle problems forced him to miss 40 games in all competitions in that campaign.
Last season, Pogba had another long spell on the treatment table from November to February due to a hamstring injury. Then he saw that his career with Manchester United ended in April due to a calf injury.
These ongoing injuries were a concern for some Juventus fans upon his return to Juventus, and their fears came true.
Pogba’s wizard cast these spells earlier this year – so it’s clearly not working. It’s time to hire a new witch, Paul!
