Paul Pogba could be banned from football for up to four years after testing positive for testosterone.

THE Juventus The midfielder was provisionally suspended following a doping test carried out after his club’s 3-0 victory at Udinese on August 20, Italy’s National Anti-Doping Tribunal (NADO Italia) announced on Monday.

The test revealed high levels of testosterone, a hormone that can increase athletes’ endurance, meaning the 30-year-old’s second sample will also need to be examined. Pogba has three days to produce a counter-analysis of the result, according to reports in Italy. If found guilty of doping, the French international could be suspended between two and four years.

“By accepting the procedure proposed by the National Anti-Doping Prosecutor, the latter has provided for the provisional suspension of the athlete Paul Labile Pogba,” NADO Italia said in a press release. The court said Pogba had violated anti-doping rules by finding the banned substance “non-endogenous metabolites of testosterone”, adding that the results were “consistent with the exogenous origin of the target compounds”.

Pogba, who was an unused substitute in the Udinese win, endured a torrid time at Juventus after returning to the club from Manchester United in 2022. The 2018 World Cup winner missed most of from last season due to knee and hamstring injuries. absent from France’s run to the World Cup final in Qatar due to knee surgery.

He was also left out of a Juventus squad for disciplinary reasons and claimed to have almost quit the game after allegedly being blackmailed by an organized crime gang. The midfielder has not started a match this season but has made two appearances as a substitute, his last appearance coming in Juventus’ 2-0 win at Empoli on September 3.

The Italian club has not yet commented on the latest controversy surrounding Pogba.