Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba will miss France’s World Cup defence in Qatar because the player is still recovering from knee surgery.
29-year-old Pogba joined the Serie A team again after leaving Manchester United in the summer, but he hasn’t yet participated in a game for Juventus. In an effort to heal in time for the competition, he first decided against surgery after suffering a knee injury in July.
France will face Australia in its opening World Cup match on November 22. Rafaela Pimenta, Pogba’s agent, issued the following statement on Monday: “Following yesterday’s and today’s medical review in Torino and Pittsburgh, it is extremely painful to inform Paul Pogba will still need recovery time from his surgery.” He further stated, “For this reason, Paul will not be able to join Juventus’ squad before the World Cup break nor the French national team in Qatar.”
Pogba, whose last game for France was a 5-0 friendly victory over South Africa in March, returned to training early last month before deciding to have surgery, which kept him out of action until two weeks ago when he started participating in part of Juve’s training programme again.
While Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri previously stated that it was “very unlikely ” that the midfielder will play for the club before the World Cup, Italian media sources on Monday suggested that Pogba had incurred a thigh injury to further delay his rehabilitation.
