Paul Pogba debuts for Monaco in first game in over two years

1 hour ago7 min read

The long, winding road back to the pitch for Paul Pogba finally reached a new, albeit bittersweet, milestone on Saturday, as the once-unstoppable force in world football made his debut for AS Monaco in a 4-1 defeat at Rennes. Coming on in the 85th minute, Pogba's first competitive appearance in over two years was a fleeting, almost spectral presence in a match already decided, a poignant footnote in a career that has plummeted from the stratospheric heights of a World Cup-winning goal to the brutal realities of injury, controversy, and a four-year doping ban that was later reduced but still cast a long shadow over his legacy.For a player whose £89 million move to Manchester United in 2016 made him the planet's most expensive footballer, a figure once compared to the effortless elegance of Zinedine Zidane for his ability to dictate play with both power and grace, this 10-minute cameo was a world away from the player who dominated midfields for Juventus and Les Bleus. His career trajectory is a stark lesson in the fragility of sporting genius; where once he was the engine of France's 2018 World Cup triumph, scoring in that iconic 4-2 final against Croatia, he has since become a case study in unfulfilled potential and external tumult.The two-year contract with Monaco represents more than just a new chapter—it is a final, desperate relaunch, a gamble for a 32-year-old whose physical prime has been eroded by persistent muscle issues and a recent, nagging ankle injury that he only just overcame during the international break. The analytical view is grim: the explosive box-to-box dynamo of old is likely gone forever, and the question now is whether his footballing IQ and passing range can adapt to a less physically demanding role, much like Andrea Pirlo evolved in his later years.For Monaco, the signing is a high-profile gamble, a mix of marketing spectacle and genuine, if faint, hope that a sliver of the old Pogba magic can be unearthed. The broader context is a sad one for the sport; football is littered with 'what if' tales, but few have seen such a dramatic chasm between peak and valley. His debut, in a losing effort, offers no answers, only a haunting reminder of what was and a cautious, collective holding of breath to see if anything of that legendary player remains.

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