The France international suffered an unfortunate injury soon after making his way back to Italian football after spending six years at Manchester United.
On July 11, Paul Pogba’s return to Juventus was formally announced. However, less than two weeks later, he sustained a knee injury while training, raising severe concerns over his readiness to represent France at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. After six difficult years at Manchester United, the 29-year-old has had the most unlucky of misfortunes just a short time after securing a trade that was meant to restart his club career.
Since returning to Turin, he has only made one friendly appearance for Juve, against Chivas, and is presently dealing with a lengthy spell on the sidelines. How long will Pogba be out of action and will he miss the defence of Les Bleus’ global crown? GOAL takes a look at
What kind of injury has Paul Pogba picked up?
Initially, Pogba’s injury was not considered to be serious, as he was able to limp off the training pitch accompanied by Juve’s medical staff.
He was in attendance at subsequent sessions, as he watched on from the sidelines, with the Bianconeri continuing to carry out tests.
It soon became clear that the problem would be keeping Pogba out of action for some time, with Juve revealing in an official statement that tissues in his knee had been torn.
The Serie A giants said: “Following complaining of pain in his right knee, Paul Pogba underwent radiological examinations that revealed a lesion of the lateral meniscus.
“In the next few hours he will undergo a specialist orthopedic consultation. Therefore, in order to continue treatment, he is not taking part in the trip to Dallas.”
How long will Paul Pogba be out for?
There were early suggestions that Pogba would be ruled out for around three weeks, meaning that he would miss the start of the 2022-23 Serie A campaign.
Further examinations have, however, revealed the full extent of the ailment and he is now expected to undergo surgery.
An operation will keep him sidelined for a considerable period of time, followed by an extended recovery programme.
Pogba has returned to Italy from Juve’s pre-season tour of the United States, with two possible solutions to his knee problem now being considered.
The first will see a man that has been reunited with the No.10 jersey at the Allianz Stadium undergo a meniscectomy that will require around two months of recovery time – putting him back in contention for game time towards the end of October.
The second possibility would see medics look at suturing the meniscus, a procedure that boasts better full recovery rates but one that also requires a longer healing process to be taken in.
In that case, Pogba could be ruled out for four to five months.
Will Paul Pogba miss World Cup 2022?
Player and club are said to favour a meniscectomy at this stage, given that a return to action can be made much sooner, but that decision may be taken out of Pogba’s hands.
If he were to be forced onto the treatment table for up to five months, then he would not come back into Massimiliano Allegri’s plans until 2023.
He would miss France’s latest quest for World Cup glory in the Middle East, which is due to get underway in November, while also sitting out the first half of Juve’s bid to reclaim a domestic crown in Serie A.
If he is only absent for a couple of months, then it could be that he misses around seven matches in the Italian top-flight as well as the start of a Champions League group stage campaign.
