Paul Pogba’s return to Juventus has been rocky to say the least.
The latest chapter has seen Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri opting to drop the France midfielder for Thursday’s Europa League first leg against Freiburg.
Reports from Italy claim that Pogba was late for a team meeting, and Allegri has opted to leave him out of his gameday squad as Juve hosts the Europa League’s defending champions.
Given the status of Juventus’ 2022-23 season — they’ve been docked 15 points in Serie A due to transfer accounting discrepancies — the Europa League is a far more appealing path to any sort of glory this season. La Vecchia Signora is 12 points away from qualifying for the Champions League through the league, and seven points from claiming a Europa League spot.
As such, the decision to drop Pogba for possibly the most crucial game Juve has left this season will likely result in plenty of scrutiny, particularly if things go awry against Freiburg at the Allianz Stadium.
Pogba’s troubled Juve return
It’s not clear that Pogba would have been available to start if he had been included, as his return to Turin has been hit by near-constant injury problems.
Pogba signed a four-year deal with Juve in July, but has been trapped in a cruel cycle of injury setbacks dating back to the end of his time with Manchester United. Pogba missed the final weeks of the Premier League season with a calf strain, and then after joining Juventus, he suffered a meniscus injury in preseason training.
Pogba initially opted to avoid surgery that would have likely made a World Cup trip with France impossible, but ended up having to undergo the procedure anyway. It briefly appeared that things would work out, especially when the star midfielder returned to training in September. However, before he could build up enough fitness to play in any matches, a thigh muscle problem ended his World Cup hopes.
Pogba made his return to training in January, but the long layoff likely contributed to another muscular issue, and his first appearance in a match since returning to Juventus didn’t come until February 28’s 4-2 win over Torino.
Pogba followed that 22-minute substitute appearance with a 14-minute cameo in Juve’s 1-0 loss at Roma, and was likely to factor in against Freiburg in a similar role. It remains to be seen whether his absence will be felt against a team that, after conceding 11 times in two road matches in the Bundesliga last month, has shut their hosts out in three straight away fixtures.
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