France midfielder Paul Pogba will skip the World Cup in Qatar after failing to recover from his knee surgery, his agent confirmed on Monday, Abbeylivenetwork.com reports.
Breaking the news to both France fans and the football world, his agent Rafaela Pimenta expressed the news as “extremely painful.”
“Following yesterday and today’s medical review in Torino and Pittsburgh, it is extremely painful to inform Paul Pogba will still need recovery time from his surgery,” his agent Rafaela Pimenta said.
“For this reason, Paul will not be able to join the Juventus squad before the World Cup break nor the French national team in Qatar. If wishful thinking would change things, Paul would be playing tomorrow.”
The French superstar has had a year of tragic events, facing extortion and a knee injury that has sidelined him for the entire season since rejoining the club from Manchester United on a free transfer in July.
Undergoing surgery in September, Pogba raced against time to recover to complete a physical return.
The news of the 29-year-old missing the World Cup now shortens France’s ability to compete in the finals.
Not only is Pogba an instrumental player for the Parisians, he drove them to their 2018 title in Russia.
Pogba scored in the 4-2 win over Croatia, winning his country a gold trophy for the second time in a thrilling final.
The World Cup winner has not commented on his absence, with his last social media post capturing the footballer training in a pool.
Considered favourites earlier in the season, France will now have an uneasy road as they seek to return as world champions since they will also be missing N’Golo Kante.
Suffering a hamstring injury, Aurelien Tchouameni could replace the midfielder.
Adrien Rabiot and Eduardo Camavinga could be the healthy midfielders that France coach Didier Deschamps could choose to replace the two midfielders.
France is positioned in Group D at this year’s World Cup and will begin its campaign in less than 20 days against Australia on November 22 before playing Denmark and Tunisia.
