IS FOOTBALL IGNORING A DRUGS PROBLEM OR IS POGBA A LONE CHEAT?

THE general tone of the reaction to Paul Pogba's four-year doping ban has been to lament a wasted talent.

And if you believe Pogba should have gone on to have a career that could be celebrated in the way we celebrate Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, that is fair enough.

But if, as seems very possible, he never makes it onto a professional football field again, Pogba has still enjoyed a career to be proud of.

I know we don't count them on these blinkered shores but four Serie A winners' medals mean something, as does a World Cup winners' medal.

Pogba was named in the Serie A team of the year on three occasions and the PFA team of the year for 2018-19. Yes, it is sad that he never consistently scaled the heights that the likes of Messi or Ronaldo did but his career has been good and lucrative.