Graeme Souness had admitted he "takes no pleasure" from seeing Paul Pogba's fall from grace after the ex-Manchester United midfielder's recent ban from football.
Pogba has been handed a four-year ban from the game for a doping offence, resulting in the Juventus midfielder not being able to resume playing until the age of 34. Pogba was suspended in September 2023 after failing a drugs test. A secondary sample was subsequently analysed, returning positive, and the National Anti-Doping Tribunal ruled that Pogba will be banned until at least 2028.
The 31-year-old was released by United at the end of the 2021/22 season after seeing his time at the club fizzle out in uninspiring fashion. He missed the majority of his first season back at Juventus - the club he originally left United for - due to a serious knee injury, which required surgery.
One of Pogba's biggest critics throughout his time in England was Souness, who often slammed the midfielder's attitude and inconsistent performances. Making clear Pogba's latest low offers him no satisfaction, however, Souness has explained his past frustrations were always related to wanting the 2018 World Cup winner to strive for greater heights.
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“With Pogba, I was frustrated with him because I saw someone who had all that talent, all that physical prowess that you see on a magnificent athlete, but had a stinking attitude, I could talk now for 10 minutes on it but the bottom line is, he didn’t work hard enough," the Scot told the Telegraph.
"The worst thing that could have happened to him was winning the World Cup as a young man. That put him firmly in a great big comfy armchair. He was no longer up for doing the hard yards, he thought it was all about him doing clever eye-catching things on the football pitch.
"Every time I played I had one thought in my head: 'I’m going to be better than the guy I’m playing against. I’m going to have a better day than he does.' And the starting point for that is working harder than him. I don’t think Paul Pogba ever had that attitude," continued Souness. "It was all about showing how clever and cute I can be. It would have been very easy to play against him because he never worked on you. He didn’t stop you playing.
“I take no pleasure in what has happened to him because he was an extremely talented young man who had everything to be remembered as one of the great midfield players in world football. But he won’t be remembered for that unfortunately. He will be remembered for being banned for drugs and being a near miss.”
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