MILAN, Italy (AFP)— Paul Pogba’s Juventus career is over after the Serie A club announced on Friday that the France midfielder’s contract had been terminated even though his doping ban was cut to 18 months on appeal.

Pogba will be able to return to competitive football in March after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) chopped last month an initial four-year suspension handed down by the Italian anti-doping authority NADO.

But Juventus have decided to cut ties with the 31-year-old, whose return to Turin from Manchester United was ruined by a string of problems on and off the pitch.

In a statement, Juve said that they and Pogba “have reached a mutual agreement for the termination of their contract as of 30 November, 2024”.

His contract had been due to expire in 2026.

Pogba had said in October that he was “willing to give up money to be able to play again with Juve”, an appeal which fell on defeat ears at the “Old Lady” of Italian football.

Juve’s announcement is no surprise as both coach Thiago Motta and sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli have both repeatedly referred to Pogba in the past tense, saying that “he was a great player”.

Pogba, a World Cup winner with France in 2018, started just one match after rejoining Juve — with whom he won four Serie A titles between 2012 and 2016 — in the summer of 2022.

He last played for Juve at Empoli in September last year, not long before he was provisionally suspended for testing positive for testosterone.

That test came following Juve’s opening Serie A fixture of last season the previous month, a 3-0 win at Udinese in which he didn’t even play.

He was then banned for four years by NADO in February, a sanction which put his career at risk before CAS reduced his punishment.

CAS accepted Pogba’s argument that the failed test “was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed to him by a medical doctor in Florida”.

However, CAS did not completely exonerate Pogba as he “was not without fault” as a professional football player, “he should have paid a greater care in the circumstances”.

During the 2022-23 season, Pogba made just 10 appearances for the club, mainly due to a knee injury that also ruled him out of the World Cup in Qatar, where France lost out to Argentina in the final in December 2022.

He was also the victim of a case of organised extortion, for which six men, including his brother Mathias, have been ordered to stand trial.

In Pogba’s absence Juve switched manager from Massimiliano Allegri to Motta and brought in a host of new players as part of a rebuild.

Juve, who finished third last term without Pogba, splashed out over 120 million euros on midfielders Teun Koopmeiners, Douglas Luiz and Khephren Thuram in a busy summer on the transfer market.

They currently sit sixth in Serie A but are only two points behind league leaders Napoli.