Marseille chief Longoria open to future Pogba transfer

Marseille president Pablo Longoria will not "close the door" on a potential move for free agent Paul Pogba.

Pogba is currently serving an 18-month doping ban but can return to training in January 2025 and compete competitively from March next year.

He left Juventus by mutual consent in November, following the verdict, despite seeing his punishment downgraded from four years to a year-and-a-half.

There is said to be plenty of interest in the 2018 World Cup winner, who last appeared in a Serie A match for Juventus against Empoli back in September 2023.

Pogba has never played in Ligue 1, and Longoria is not ruling out making that possibility a reality.

"I'm not closing the door because he's a world-class player," Longoria 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."

Pogba's former team-mate Adrien Rabiot left Juventus for Marseille himself and said last week that it would be "a pleasure" to team up with his old midfield partner again.

Corinthians and Manchester City have both also emerged as surprise destinations for Pogba, who has 91 international caps to his name and scored in France's 2018 World Cup final triumph over Croatia.

Pogba only managed 10 appearances in the 2022-23 season, his first campaign back at Juventus after leaving Manchester United, and made two more before being suspended early last season.

He revealed back in October that a move to France's top tier could appeal, saying: "Why not? You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Why not play in Ligue 1?"