10 appearances and 70,000 euros per minute – Corriere.it

More than a season, Paul Pogba’s is a (sports) drama at Waiting for Godot, where everyone can’t wait for the protagonist to emerge, but he never arrives, while a sense of cosmic desperation grows around. The curtain on his first Juventus sequel yesterday morning was drawn by the J-Medical report: low-grade lesion of the rectus femoris of the left thigh. Nothing tragic – we are about 15-20 days off – but these days it means the season is over. Downcast in the face, the Frenchman came out among the fans, who also encouraged him: Come on Paul, raise your head.

In the end, the vintage was nothing but a long and painful one Sunset Boulevardjust now that, on the contrary, everyone was hoping for the sun to come out: the first as owner had arrived after that, with a soft touch here and a (decisive) nod of the head there, he had already offered the idea of ​​what it could be, even if it wasn’t yet. Until the new crash: him in tears, and around the sound of silence. The meniscus operation has nothing to do with it, rather one athletic condition that could not be at the top, in a player who has unfortunately seemed predisposed to muscle ailments in recent years. Collected, they make 10 appearances and 172 minutes per season, for an hourly salary worthy of a tabloid headline: almost 70,000 euros per minute, given the salary of 10 million (net) plus two bonuses. Contract in force for another three years, on which the club will have to reason, even if there are no divorces or re-discussions on the horizon. At the moment. Indeed, the Frenchman was happy to be back, looking forward to playing and making people rejoice.

In the beginning it was the meniscus, in the first step of last summer’s American tour: to be operated on immediately, the first consultations say, to be managed, he and those closest to him think instead. After all, there was Juve, but also the World Cup in Qatar. It wasn’t just a cynical and cheating fate, in short. Because then, once back in Europe, on 2 August he asked and obtained the opinion of another guru, Professor Bertrand Sonney-Cottet, in Lyon: dear Paul – in substance the answer – you have to have surgery, but your knee.

Obviously the club could not force him which, while not sharing the choice, supports him and supports him in conservative therapy, between the gym and the swimming pool. That doesn’t work: so, while Madama is in Paris to challenge PSG, Paul is operated on by Professor Roberto Rossi, head physician of the Mauriziano in Turin. The recovery would also be in time, were it not for unforeseen events to appear as if we were in Monopoli, amidst muscle resentments and, in mid-March, an injury to the adductor of the right thigh. At times he puts some of him into it, between a snow holiday selfie and the late arrival for the retreat dinner, which costs him a call-up to the Europa League. Meanwhile, bad family stories shake his mind: Events that have had an impact on my body and my injuries, he tells French investigators. Since this morning, he has been trying to restart.