This is Paul Pogba’s side of the story. Some of you won’t want to hear it, your minds are already made up.

Flash. Arrogant. Cocky. Pogba has heard them all.

Speak to him and he would explain hurtful opinions come with the territory of being a public figure. He’d tell you he takes it on the chin, with the pinch of salt required to ensure negativity doesn’t infiltrate his family life.

What he may not reveal, however, is an incident last September that illustrates the chaos he can’t escape.

Pogba clandestinely flew from Turin to Paris to attend to a personal matter only to be greeted with a circus of paparazzi upon his arrival.

French star and World Cup winner Paul Pogba has been accused of being flash, arrogant and cocky, but the one accusation he won’t stand for is being labelled as a drugs cheat

The midfielder was given a four-hear ban by the Tribunale Nazionale Anti-doping earlier this month in relation to a positive test for DHEA, a banned substance that boosts testosterone

Pogba is now fighting for his career as the four-year ban would take him to the age of 35

It threw Pogba — only his trusted inner circle were party to his travel arrangements. To this day, he can’t fathom how the photographers knew.

But that’s life as Paul Pogba. Everyone wants a piece and everyone’s got a view —generally critical — of a footballer originally rejected by France’s famed national football centre in Clairefontaine only to lift the World Cup years later.

He lives with the hostility, as much as it irks him. Yet there are certain accusations he isn’t prepared to stand for. Namely, being labelled a drugs cheat.

And today Mail Sport can take you to the heart of the doping crisis that leaves one of football’s most iconic figures fighting for his career, integrity and legacy.

The emotion, anger, mitigation and regret of a scandal that has left Pogba ‘distraught’ but one that has triggered his inherent fighting spirit.

Regardless of your personal views on Pogba the individual, the thought of never witnessing the midfielder rip through central midfield with the venom and ferocity that compelled Manchester United to spend £89million to re-acquire his services in 2016 should sadden us all.

A football player for the ages. Think Steven Gerrard. Think Clarence Seedorf. Box-to-box. Power. Poise. Ability. What a waste it would be if he never played again.

But Pogba isn’t taking this lying down. If you were to ask him why – this is what he may say…

Just last week Pogba schmoozed with the glitterati, unaware of how his world was about to unravel.

Pogba has vowed to appeal the ‘incorrect’ decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport

Sat at a private dinner function in Dubai, the World Cup winner conversed with actor Idris Elba, comedian Trevor Noah and boxer Tommy Fury.

Fine dining with fine company – nothing out of the ordinary for Paul Pogba.

It’s’ a far cry from a childhood spent growing up in a small property in Lagny-sur-Marne, a small suburb to the east of Paris central, where he lived with his parents Yeo and Fassou and twin brothers Florentin and Mathias.

The family had little money but Pogba’s adolescent years are described as ‘happy’ by those close to him.

Football was Pogba’s escape, but that in itself created financial difficulties for the family because they couldn’t afford to pay for club registration fees.

Success wasn’t put on a plate for Pogba. He’s earned it.

So when news emerged of the four-year suspension imposed by the Tribunale Nazionale Anti-doping in relation to a positive test for DHEA, a banned substance that boosts testosterone, after Juventus’ game against Udinese on August 20, you can imagine the distress.

The France superstar never lived up to his full potential during his time at Manchester United

All Pogba had worked for; the struggle, the sacrifices – up in smoke. The ban imposed is the maximum enforceable under Italian doping guidelines.

Pogba will be close to 35 when the punishment elapses. The prospects of him recommencing his career, if the conditions are upheld, appear slim.

So how does he feel about it all?

Well, if asked, he may explain how deeply perturbed he is by the fact he was given the harshest possible penalty for an offence he maintains was unintentional.

He’d perhaps query why he has received the same suspension as someone guilty of injecting steroids into their veins.

He could say the size of the penalty has left him suspicious to the point where he believes he’s being made an example of or, worse still, that other ulterior motives are at play.

He’d tell you he hates the thought of football fans thinking he has cheated the game he adores. He’d confess how upset he is for his family, who share his suffering.

Pogba, too, would likely express reservations about the handling of his most recent hearing.

Mail Sport has learned his latest interaction with Italian doping authorities, via an online video conference call on Wednesday, February 28, started at around 2pm and ended at 8pm.

Pogba’s biggest career highlight came on the international stage at the 2018 World Cup

Pogba, who was in Dubai during the call, learned of his fate at around 10am the following morning despite officials having to consider six hours of evidence from a hearing that ended late the prior evening.

But, above all else, Pogba would tell you he isn’t prepared to let this chapter break him.

He’s determined to stand up for himself and his family. He’s trying not to crumble but instead focus on his forthcoming appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in which he hopes his suspension will be reduced.

Pogba knows achieving that goal won’t be easy but he’ll have taken solace from the news that tennis player Simona Halep had her four-year suspension for testing positive for roxadustat reduced to nine months.

He will see UFC fighter Bobby Green, who also tested positive for DHEA, but was banned for six months – not four years – by the US Anti-Doping Agency as reason for optimism.

Pogba will also have noted this passage on the World Anti Doping Agency’s official website: ‘The literature on the ergogenic effects of DHEA intake is nevertheless very scant, and to our knowledge none of the studies has presented evidence that DHEA use improves athletic performance.’

But at this stage, all Pogba really has is hope and sometimes it’s the hope that kills you.

As Pogba incandescently digested news of his sentence, his mind may have wandered back to November 29, 2022. He wasn’t to know it then, but the consequences of that fateful Tuesday would manifest into a personal catastrophe.

It was the day a US doctor prescribed Pogba a set of pills that set the wheels in motion towards an apocalypse.

Encased in a brown polypropylene bottle at 25mg a dose, Pogba would have thrown them straight in the bin if he had known what would follow.

The footballer can take some solace from the news that tennis player Simona Halep had her four-year suspension for testing positive for roxadustat reduced to nine months

It wasn’t for another 10 months that the consequences struck like a sledgehammer. ‘Incubo Pogba’ roared the front page of Gazette Dello Sport on September 12. Translation: Nightmare Pogba. Apt.

A visit to a US wellness clinic, known to Mail Sport, in an effort to understand why his body had become susceptible to injury following his return to Juventus from Manchester United during the 2022/23 season will remain one of the biggest regrets of his life. At the medical centre, he underwent blood and biometric tests which subsequently raised a number of deficiencies.

One of the issues highlighted was a lack of vitamin D, which is said to be common in black males. The practitioner recommended a course of tablets to improve deficiency levels. The specialist, who Pogba regrets he was ever introduced to, claimed to have worked with a number of other sportspeople – including NFL stars.

A source close to Pogba insists the player expressed his concerns about doping regulations and was assured anything he’d be given would comply with the rules.

The fact Pogba trusted him has proved a big mistake.

Supplement use in sport has become the norm. Players are regularly handed pills – generally made up of vitamins, collagen, creatine and proteins – by club medics to aid recovery.

Those ingesting them generally do so without confirmation from their respective clubs as to what they are putting in their bodies.

Players – Pogba included – trust doctors and have to during their entire professional careers. Pogba believed he had no reason to distrust the prescription from the US clinic.

At this juncture, it is intriguing to note that during part of Pogba’s recent hearing, Italian authorities tried to establish whether the midfielder received any recent anti-doping training.

Mail Sport can reveal that during their investigation they were informed that UEFA’s last recorded anti-doping training for Pogba was during the European Under 19 Championships in Estonia in 2012, when he was 19.

FIFA said they could not provide tangible proof of Pogba attending any of their educational sessions, but said he is likely to have participated in one at the U20 World Cup in Turkey in 2013, when he was 20.

With that in mind, Pogba’s plight raises viable questions as to why anti-doping refresher courses are not taken with more regularity.

Ultimately, of course, sportspeople are responsible for their own bodies and know they’ll pay a heavy price for contravening doping regulations.

Pogba isn’t stupid, he knows the burden rests on his shoulders. He realises he should have had the pills checked by Juventus’ doctor. He’ll live with that mistake forever. But what he seeks is a punishment he believes fits the crime amid a strong feeling a four-year ban is overwhelmingly disproportionate.

A devout Muslim, Pogba doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke and doesn’t take recreational drugs. He’s taken over 170 doping tests during his career.

Of course, it won’t be lost by those educated on such matters that that was Lance Armstrong’s argument.

But the deeper you dig, the more propensity there is to Pogba’s claims that he didn’t mean to break the rules.

Since his provisional suspension in September, Pogba has seen his £430,000-per-week earnings plummet, with sources close to the 30-year-old insisting Juventus are paying him ‘virtually nothing’ at the moment.

There will be little sympathy for Pogba, who has already earned a fortune from football. But while Juve are counting the sporting costs of not being able to field Pogba, they are at least able to save vast sums on wages during a period where they have been stricken with financial difficulties.

Needless to say, relations between Juventus and Pogba are frosty, although he remains in touch with members of the coaching staff and the players.

Pogba’s talents were enough for Pep Guardiola to consider him as a Fernandinho replacement

The passing of his his long-term agent Mino Raiola took its toll on the French midfielder

‘Juventus don’t communicate with Paul. The directors – those at the top of the club – haven’t even sent him a text message. Where is the duty of care?’ said a source close to Pogba.

In contrast, it is believed France head coach Didier Deschamps, who is described as a father figure to Pogba, is believed to have checked in on his player.

You can appreciate Juve’s disappointment, of course. They had high hopes for Pogba’s second coming.

On the pitch he was in his prime, off it his marketability and financial value soared despite the inconsistencies that characterised his return to Manchester United from 2016 to 2022.

Had matters turned out differently, Pogba could easily have stayed in Manchester during the summer he departed.

City were interested in taking him on a free transfer; Pep Guardiola seeking a replacement for outgoing Fernandinho.

Guardiola identified Pogba as perfect for his system, albeit recognising the seismic disruption such a transfer would create.

Talks were held but ultimately Pogba felt so deeply shaken by a burglary at his Manchester property earlier in March that he felt compelled to leave the UK for good. Indeed, such turmoil is known to hit Pogba hard.

A sensitive soul, he was deeply impacted by the loss of his father to a long illness in 2017.

The passing of his long-term agent Mino Raiola, for whom Pogba felt great loyalty, also took its toll. Then there was the plot to kidnap and blackmail Pogba in 2022, made worse by allegations that his brother Mathias was involved.

Pogba has had to roll with the punches, but whether he recovers from these latest blows remains to be seen.

Moving forward, Pogba wants to live life as normal, though there was a mutual decision to cancel a planned appearance at a Bloomberg event in Jeddah in light of the current furore.

He is currently undertaking his own personal fitness programme, but nothing beats the thrill of professional football.

Pogba has numerous business and philantrophic ventures to keep his mind occupied until the Court or Arbitration for Sport hearing. But Pogba is a football player. It’s what he does best. He trusts that one day he’ll be able to recommence his career.

Ultimately, however, it’s trust that landed him in this almighty mess.