It’s been a long, weird road for Paul Pogba. If you haven’t been keeping tabs on the Ligue 1 highlights recently, you might still picture him sitting in a courtroom or stuck in the stands in Turin. But as of January 2026, the "Pogback" narrative has shifted from legal battles to the actual grass of the Stade Louis II.
Paul Pogba is now playing for AS Monaco. He’s officially back in French football. After a nightmare period that saw him sidelined for over 800 days, the 32-year-old midfielder is finally attempting to salvage the final chapter of his career. It hasn't been a smooth ride, though. There were moments in 2024 when people genuinely thought he’d never lace up his boots for a professional match again.
The Long Road to AS Monaco
To understand where Paul Pogba is now, you have to look at the wreckage he left behind at Juventus. That second stint in Italy was, honestly, a disaster. In August 2023, he tested positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). The initial four-year ban handed down in February 2024 felt like a death sentence for his playing days.
But things changed.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) eventually bought the argument that the ingestion wasn't intentional. They slashed that four-year ban down to 18 months in late 2024. That ruling was the "get out of jail free" card he needed. However, Juventus didn't want to wait around. They mutually terminated his contract in November 2024, leaving him as a free agent.
He spent the first half of 2025 training like a madman, mostly in Miami and Dubai. There was massive speculation. Would he go to Inter Miami to join Messi? Would he take a massive Saudi paycheck?
Instead, he went home. In June 2025, he signed a two-year deal with AS Monaco.
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Why Monaco?
Monaco is a smart play. It's high-level football but without the suffocating 24/7 media pressure of Manchester or Turin. The club saw a chance to get a world-class talent for free, even if he came with some serious rust.
His debut for the Monegasques finally happened in late November 2025. It was a brief cameo—about five minutes plus stoppage time in a 4-1 loss to Rennes—but it ended a staggering 811-day wait for competitive football. Think about that. Over two years without a single meaningful minute of play.
The Current State of His Fitness
Right now, Pogba is basically in a "re-entry" phase. You can't just stop playing for two years at age 32 and expect your hamstrings to behave.
His coach at Monaco, Sebastien Pocognoli, has been pretty transparent about the situation. They aren't throwing him into the deep end. The medical staff is following a phased reintroduction. If you look at the match sheets from December 2025 and early January 2026, you'll see a lot of 20-minute and 30-minute appearances.
"I'm very far from playing 90 minutes," Pogba admitted after a recent game. Honestly, he’s right. He looks like a player who still has the vision—that "X-ray" passing range hasn't gone anywhere—but his engine is still warm-up mode.
Injuries and Setbacks
It hasn't been all sunshine. Just before his scheduled debut in October 2025, he suffered a grade-two ankle sprain in training. It was a "here we go again" moment for fans.
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Thankfully, it was a relatively minor setback compared to the knee surgeries that ruined his previous years. Since returning in November, he’s been relatively stable. He’s been working closely with a personal performance team alongside Monaco’s staff to ensure his body doesn't break under the intensity of Ligue 1.
The 2026 World Cup Dream
This is the real reason he’s at Monaco. The 2026 World Cup in North America is looming.
Pogba has 91 caps for France. He was the heartbeat of that 2018 winning squad. Didier Deschamps, the France manager, has always had a soft spot for him, but he’s also a realist. The French midfield is currently stacked with young monsters like Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni.
Deschamps has been non-committal but hasn't closed the door. He basically told the press that if Paul is playing and performing at Monaco, he’s in the conversation.
Pogba knows the stakes. He recently said, "If I don't perform well at Monaco, I'll have to forget about the French national team." It’s a high-stakes gamble. He’s essentially using this 2025-26 season as one long audition for a ticket to the United States this summer.
What His Life Looks Like Now
Off the pitch, life in Monte Carlo seems to suit him. He’s been seen at the usual high-profile events, but he’s notably quieter on social media than in his Manchester United days. There’s a sense that he’s humbled.
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The extortion case involving his brother Mathias and childhood "friends" is mostly behind him in the legal sense, which has clearly lifted a massive mental weight. You can see it in his interviews; he looks less stressed, more focused on just being a footballer again.
The Financial Reality
He isn't earning the €8 million-plus salary he had at Juventus. The Monaco deal is heavily incentivized. He gets paid for playing. It’s a "prove-it" contract in every sense of the word. His current market value is a fraction of what it once was—around €5 million according to most trackers—but that’s irrelevant to him right now. He’s playing for legacy, not another zero on the bank balance.
What to Expect Next
If you’re wondering where Paul Pogba is now in terms of his career trajectory, he’s at a crossroads. The next three months are everything.
- January - February 2026: Look for him to start getting his first 60-70 minute starts. Monaco has a busy schedule with Ligue 1 and European commitments.
- March 2026: This is the make-or-break month for a France recall. If he isn't starting regularly for Monaco by March, his World Cup dream is likely dead.
- May 2026: The end of the Ligue 1 season. This will be the final verdict on whether the "Monaco Experiment" worked.
Basically, he’s a 32-year-old veteran trying to prove he’s not a "has-been." He’s still got the flashy boots and the occasionally wild hair, but the swagger is tempered by the reality of his long absence.
Watch the Monaco highlights. You’ll see flashes of the old Paul—a cross-field diagonal ball that defies physics or a bit of skill to escape a press. But you'll also see a player who is still catching his breath. Whether he can bridge that gap before the World Cup starts is the biggest question in French sports right now.
To stay updated on his progress, keep an eye on Monaco’s weekly injury reports and starting lineups. His journey back to 100% fitness is being monitored by the club on a game-by-game basis. If you want to see if he’s truly "back," check his stats for "progressive passes" and "duels won" over the next few weeks; those will tell you more than any highlight reel about whether his body is actually holding up to the rigors of professional football.