La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Juventus and Paul Pogba will learn the full outcome of the Frenchman’s counter-analysis tests on Friday, rather than on Thursday as had previously been reported.
The former Manchester United midfielder had abnormal levels of testosterone in his system at the time of a random doping test carried out after Juve’s 3-0- win over Udinese in August.
After the initial results, Pogba and his team requested counter-analysis to be carried out, which is a longer and more complicated process, the results of which are not expected to be disclosed until Friday according to La Gazzetta.
Pogba has claimed innocence since the initial results became public knowledge, however, the bad omen is that only a tiny percentage of previous initial positive test results have been overturned.
La Gazzetta writes that Pogba and his legal representatives will already be preparing to negotiate a plea bargain in the event of a second positive result.
The objective of the plea bargain will be to shorten the expected ban from a maximum of four years down to two. A successful plea will rely on Pogba being able to prove that the alleged doping occurred accidentally, or non-voluntarily.
An investigation is expected to start immediately after the second set of results are delivered.
In the event that Pogba is banned, Juventus would be able to terminate his contract, which could save the club somewhere around €30m given that the 30-year-old still has three years of his €10m-per-season deal remaining.