[imagesource: Joaquin Sarmiento]

Many Manchester United fans were happy to see the back of Paul Pogba.

His time at the club was beset by injury and drama and he never managed to consistently reproduce the form he so often showed when wearing the French jersey.

After leaving on a free transfer, Pogba signed for Serie A outfit Juventus, for whom he played between 2012 and 2016. He has yet to feature for the side, having suffered a meniscus tear on his right knee in pre-season, but his name remains in the headlines.

This week has seen a series of extraordinary claims and counterclaims from Paul and his brother, Mathias (above right), who was also a professional footballer.

The Telegraph reports:

Mathias has claimed that he almost died as a consequence of his famous brother’s actions in a series of social media posts that have seen him ramp up the threats to make revelations about the France international’s private life.

In the meantime, Paul’s allegations that he was effectively taken hostage, and threatened in an attempted extortion in Paris in March are being investigated by the French police’s counter-organised crime agency OCLCO.

The investigation is looking into the possibility of “attempted blackmail by an organised gang”.

Some French outlets are reporting that Paul was taken hostage in eastern Paris in March by a gang which included childhood friends and a €13 million ransom was demanded.

This from GFNF:

Between March 25th and 29th, when the French national team hosted Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa in friendly matches, Paul Pogba took the opportunity to visit his family in Lagny-sur-Marne.

Friends are then alleged to have dragged him to an apartment in Paris, where they blamed him for not helping them financially since he became a professional player.

Among them, two armed men demanded €13m for “services rendered,” claiming that they had protected him discreetly for 13 years.

Paul claims members of the same gang were then regularly spotted in Manchester, as well as at training grounds where he was present, in attempts to intimidate him. He says he also saw Mathias in the company of the gang on some of these occasions.

A number of Mathias’ claims have come via social media posts like this one:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mathias Pogba (@mathiaspogbaofficial)

You’ll notice the Kylian Mbappé hashtag above. To unpack that, here’s MARCA:

Mathias’ most explosive claim against Paul Pogba was when he accused him of resorting to witchcraft to injure Mbappe.

He claimed that his brother could have hired a marabout, a Muslim religious teacher, to injure Mbappe by applying witchcraft…

“I feel sorry for my brother, an alleged Muslim immersed in witchcraft.

“It’s never good to have a hypocrite and a traitor near you!”

Mathias has also set up a Twitter account where he is levelling accusation after accusation at his brother:

Paul, tu voulais vraiment me faire taire quite à mentir et m’envoyer en prison, je m’en doutais maintenant c’est avéré, ma version des faits arrive et contrairement à toi, j’ai de quoi prouvé mes dires et tes mensonges. Je te le redis : frère, manipuler les gens c’est pas bien !

— Mathias Pogba (@LeMathiasPogba) August 28, 2022

Matthias claims he has gone public because he fears the media is attempting to spin things. He also accuses Paul of lying to Italian authorities.

Rather than respond via social media, Paul has gone the legal route:

[He] dismissed the original set of allegations from Mathias in a statement released through lawyers and signed by [his agent, the Italian lawyer Rafaela] Pimenta and his mother Yeo which described the threats to disclose private information as “unfortunately not a surprise.”

It added: “They are coming after threats and attempts of extortion by an organised gang against Paul Pogba.”

It’s believed that Paul did end up paying €100 000 to those allegedly attempting to extract money from him before he turned to authorities for help.

Whatever the outcome here, these headlines will further entrench, at least in some supporters’ minds, the idea that Paul Pogba’s contribution on the field isn’t worth the off-field drama he brings with him.

We certainly know where Graeme Souness stands on the matter.

[sources:tele&gfnf&marca]