A shout, then the turf
A shout. Then Paul Pogba on the ground. Tuesday morning at St George’s Park, the AS Monaco midfielder went down during a small-sided game. Left thigh. Another one.
He hobbled off to the bench, thigh strapped, two staff members holding him up. We have watched this scene too many times over the past year.
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A year that added up to almost nothing
He arrived on a free last summer to no shortage of noise. Since then the 2018 world champion has barely kicked a ball. Six games. A hundred and fifteen minutes. One start, against Metz, on 2 May.
Everything else has been an injury file. An ankle in the autumn. A calf that cost him more than three months. His right knee at the start of summer. A body that keeps saying no.
He had only just come back. Last Friday he rejoined group training. Days later, here we are again. At 33, matchday sharpness still feels a long way off.
So what now?
The league is back within days. Monaco wanted to see him string sessions together and build a base. Thiago Scuro, the chief executive, said it plainly in July: pre-season would be the test of where Pogba stood. That test has an answer now, and it is not kind. His time in the Principality has rarely looked shakier.
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