AS Monaco chief expresses frustration over Paul Pogba

Paul Pogba’s attempt to rebuild his career in Ligue 1 was always going to come with a bit of patience attached.

After an 18-month doping ban, the former Manchester United midfielder signed a two-year contract with Monaco last summer, welcomed with plenty of noise and optimism from supporters.

But on the pitch, it has been stop-start from the beginning.

Paul Pogba has made just three Ligue 1 appearances in the 2025–26 season, adding up to 30 minutes in total, with his last outing coming in December.

Unfortunately, the former France international is currently sidelined by a calf issue and will not feature in Monaco’s next game against Lorient on Friday night.

However, Monaco’s wider situation only sharpens the spotlight. The club are ninth in Ligue 1 after losing six of their last seven matches, and they sit 19th in the Champions League table.

An in-form Paul Pogba would change the feel of their season quickly, but the reality is he has not been available often enough.

That is why Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro sounded increasingly blunt when asked for an update on Wednesday.

Speaking at a pre-match press conference, as reported by Goal, Scuro admitted the club’s programme to get Paul Pogba back to full fitness “is not working as we expected in the beginning”.

Explaining the situation, Scuro commented: “Clearly, the programme for Paul is not working as we expected in the beginning. We are working hard to find solutions for him.”

He continued: “Personally, he is disturbed. The plan is always changing according to the situations that we face.

“A few small injuries in different parts of the body are bringing challenges to the process.

“We keep working to try to deliver what we agreed on in the summer when he arrived. This is our commitment.”

Discussing the potential of Pogba and Monaco parting ways at the end of the season, the club’s CEO added: “There are lots of things in Paul’s contract that are much different to what people think.”

He continued: “I don’t think that it is helpful to disclose anything. The relationship is honest. We have to keep running with the plan, even though the plan has become longer.

“You always have two possibilities: one that this works well and he’ll be back on the pitch soon, and he’ll be able to make an impact, [or] if it doesn’t work, for sure, the parties can sit down in the summer and have another discussion about where we go.

“This isn’t the moment to discuss it because we are working on trying to find the solution.”