Paul Pogba training alone in Cristiano Ronaldo's old villa as Juventus midfielder awaits counter-analysis on positive doping test

The World Cup-winning France international is splitting his time between Turin and Paris after testing positive for testosterone and being handed a precautionary suspension by the Anti-Doping Tribunal in Italy. He must now wait until October 5 for the counter-analysis results on the B sample that he provided on August 20.

Pogba’s last official contact with Juve staff is said to have come during a meeting with the club’s medical team and management on September 11. He has been nursing an injury and has now seen his salary docked to €40,000 a year – the minimum amount allowed within his contract. If the 30-year-old midfielder is not cleared by his B sample, then a fresh investigation will begin into the supplements he is said to have purchased and used on the advice of an American doctor.

For now, when in Italy, Pogba is having to stay away from Juve’s training centre and his club colleagues. Gazzetta dello Sport reports that he is working alone at a villa in the Turin hills that used to be occupied by five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo. He has access to a gym, indoor swimming pool and an outdoor pitch.

Pogba is still being closely monitored by his trusted team of representatives and Juve staff members, while fellow countryman Adrien Rabiot has said of staying in touch with a close friend during a difficult time for him: “We are all close to Paul. I hear from him almost every day.”