Marseille president Pablo Longoria says the club are “not closing the door” to signing Paul Pogba but insists there have not yet been any discussions with the free agent midfielder.
Pogba, 31, is available after leaving Juventus by mutual consent at the end of November.
He departed the Italian club after having his four-year ban for failing an anti-doping test cut to 18 months in October. That allows Pogba to return to training in January and then back to playing in March.
In October, Pogba told L’Equipe he was open to a move to Ligue 1. “Playing in France?” He said. “Why not? You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Why not play in Ligue 1, I wouldn’t be obliged to say no.”
Earlier this month Adrien Rabiot, a former team-mate of Pogba at Juventus and France, who joined Marseille on a free transfer in September, said he wanted to link up with him again.
Addressing the Pogba situation at a news conference this morning, Longoria told reporters he was not ruling anything out.
“I’m not closing the door, because he’s a world-class player,” he said. “We have to analyse, since he’s on the market and it’s always good to take advantage of these opportunities and have great players in your team.
“There are no advanced discussions with him. We will have an internal meeting to set all the transfer window objectives. He is a player that I respect but we must analyse. No decisions have been made on his case.”
Marseille, managed by Roberto De Zerbi, are currently second in Ligue 1, trailing leaders and bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain by seven points at the top.
They play Saint-Etienne away in the French Cup on Sunday before their winter break. They resume in the league on January 5 at home to Le Havre.
Their best player this season has been Mason Greenwood, who was signed from Manchester United for a total package of £26.7million ($34.5m) in the summer.
Pogba, a former youth product of Le Havre, began his senior playing career at Manchester United. He joined Juventus on a free transfer in 2012 and went on to win four successive Serie A titles.
He then rejoined United to great fanfare in 2016 for what was then a world record fee of £89m, before returning to Juventus for a second time in the summer of 2022.
He made just nine appearances during his second spell at Juventus and was suspended from all football-related activity in February this year when testosterone was detected in a test.
Pogba also won the World Cup with the French national team in 2018.
(Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images)
