Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro has admitted the club will hold talks with Paul Pogba over his future but stressed nothing has been decided yet.
The Ligue 1 club gave the former Manchester United star a career boost following a two-year ban, but injuries derailed his comeback.
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Pogba, once the world’s most expensive footballer, has endured a major ordeal to return to glory after failing a drugs test while playing for Juventus in 2023.
After he was released by the Old Lady, Monaco offered the midfielder the chance to play competitively in his home country again.
Pogba signed a two-year contract with the Principality team last June but had to wait until November 22 to make his first appearance.
He played four minutes in the 4-1 loss to Rennes and made late appearances against Paris Saint-Germain and Brest before injury struck.
Why did Monaco sign Pogba?
The club’s CEO Scuro joined The Pitch Prospect on Tuesday to discuss the reasons behind signing the Frenchman and their plans for the summer.
“Paul was all about performance,” the 44-year-old told Matterface & Jordan. “It’s about performance, the first step.”
“Paul is a very talented player with a different level than we are used to in Ligue 1.
“He’s coming back after two years without playing – we knew the challenge of getting him back would be big.”
“Of course it also has an impact on the visibility of the league, on AS Monaco, on commercial income and all that.”
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“But as we all know, the player has to perform on the pitch for everything to work well,” Monaco managing director Scuro continued on The Pitch Prospect.
“Ultimately, we started this process in the summer with very high expectations.”
Pogba suffered a calf injury on December 13 and has been out ever since – he was even left out of Monaco’s Champions League squad.
In total, the 2018 World Cup winner has only played 30 minutes in three substitute appearances in Ligue 1 since his move last summer.
The Les Monégasques CEO added: “It takes a lot for him to be consistently on the pitch.”
“He had some minutes during the season that demonstrated his level and ability and we are still pushing for him to have more time on the pitch at the end of the season.”
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Will Pogba leave Monaco?
Scuro, who has previously been linked with a move to Arsenal, revealed that all parties will soon hold talks over the Frenchman’s next steps.
“Given what’s going on right now, there will be a discussion with both hands in the summer as to whether Paul is still ready to continue to face this process, and on our side too we will have that conversation at the right moment,” he said.
“I would say today that both directions are possible due to Paul’s position or even the club.”
“Now we are concentrating on giving him the opportunity to be on the pitch more and show that he is capable of playing for a few more seasons.”
Pogba shared snaps from his latest return to training this week, but his demotion in Europe prevented him from playing against PSG on Wednesday.
Monaco travel to the Parc des Princes for the second leg of the Champions League playoffs looking to overturn a 3-2 deficit.
Asked about the club’s hopes of a surprise away win, Scuro replied: “Well, we fully expect that we can compete against them.”
“At the end of our second half with 10 men we did well and only conceded one goal against Paris.”
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“We saw the level of substitutions, the quality of the squad, they have one of the best coaches in the world who is the current Champions League champion.”
“No doubts about their quality, but if we have a strong attitude towards the game, if we stick together, if we follow the game plan, we can qualify to progress.”
“That’s the mindset we’ve been working on over the last two to three days, especially here, and we’re fully committed to that goal.”
“[We know] How difficult it is, but we have the capacity and the means to go there and play a very good game tomorrow at the Parc des Princes.