PARIS (AP) — Marseille midfielder Adrien Rabiot wants to reunite with Paul Pogba and has urged him to join the club when he is eligible to play again next year.
Italian giant Juventus came to a mutual agreement with Pogba to cancel his contract, despite the 2018 France World Cup winner having a doping ban slashed from four years to 18 months following an appeal. He can resume playing in March, the same month he turns 32.
“I would like to play with Paul,” Rabiot told TV channel DAZN after scoring for Marseille in Sunday night’s 2-0 win at Saint-Etienne. “He is highly invited to come and play at Marseille.”
Rabiot joined Marseille from Juventus in the offseason and is starting to find his best form. The southern club is in second place in the French league, level on points with Monaco and five points behind leader Paris Saint-Germain under highly-rated coach Roberto De Zerbi.
“What we’re putting into place here is really very good. There’s a real dynamic (and) we have ambition,” said Rabiot, who has made 50 appearances for France.
Pogba tested positive for testosterone in August last year and was handed the maximum punishment by Italy’s anti-doping court.
But the Court of Arbitration for Sport judges cut Pogba’s ban for a lack of intent, accepting that his positive test was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed by a doctor in Florida.
In 2016, Pogba became the then-most expensive soccer player in history when he joined Manchester United from Juventus for a fee of 105 million euros.
He has played 91 times for France and scored 11 times, including a goal in the World Cup final when Les Bleus beat Croatia 4-2. The following season he scored a career-high 13 league goals for United and was considered among the world’s best midfielders.
Pogba returned to Juventus as a free agent in 2022, but injuries limited him to just eight Serie A appearances in his second spell at the club before his ban.
“We rubbed shoulders briefly at Juventus,” said Rabiot, who made 212 appearances for Juve from 2019-24. “We didn’t get much chance to play together since he had quite a few injuries. I was very disappointed.” ___
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