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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Ricky Charlesworth

How Paul Pogba's brother Mathias became journeyman of Europe following Crawley flop

It promises to be a summer full of rumours and gossip surrounding Paul Pogba.

The French World Cup-winning midfielder is nearing the end of his contract at Manchester United but appears destined to leave Old Trafford for a second time.

Having arrived to plenty of fan-fare and for a world record £89million deal back in 2016, Pogba simply has not delivered in the six subsequent seasons. He is reportedly considering a return to Juventus - the club he originally left United for in 2012, having already snubbed Manchester City, while PSG and Real Madrid have both been linked.

And while Paul is likely to get plenty of column inches written about him in the coming weeks, one of his older brothers has also been hitting the headlines recently.

Mathias Pogba, 31 and two years Paul's senior, was released by a French fourth division side with their board saying he was the "wrong man for the job". His hasty recent exit came just eight months after being signed on by the struggling outfit. Belfort president Jean-Paul Simon said: "We made a bad choice in signing Mathias Pogba.

"You could say he was the wrong man for the job. Let's say that we have recently opted to separate by mutual consent. I take full responsibility. Plenty of bad decisions have been made this season, and I'm not very happy with what we have done. Now all that matters is avoiding relegation."

Paul and Matias Pogba during a friendly match in 2017 (AFP/Getty Images)

Belfort, remarkably, was the 13th calling point of Pogba's nomadic career. The striker, whose twin brother Florentin is also playing in France for Sochaux, has experience of playing in England, just like Paul.

However, his taste of football in Britain came much lower down the footballing ladder. It all started for Mathias when he enjoyed a successful trial at Wrexham in 2010. He had a semi-decent time of it in Wales, helping the Dragons reach the National League play-offs two years in a row and being voted the club's young player of the year during the 2011–12 season.

Arguably one of the most memorable clips of him was immortalised thanks to a social media clip which shows him lining up a shot from distance only to produce an air kick and go flying to the ground. He turned down a new deal at Wrexham in 2012 and then earned a contract with Crewe, then in League One. He would go on to score 16 goals in his first season with the Railwaymen before tailing off in his second season.

He would then complete a move to Serie B side Pescara - joining his brother Paul who by now had also left for Italy, joining Juventus. The spell would not last long or be successful, with Mathias eventually earning a move back to England with Crawley. But that too would be short-lived; Pogba stayed in Sussex for just three months, scored only twice and was part of the side which were relegated into League Two.

He was beginning to get the tag of a journeyman and followed this pattern for the next few years with unsuccessful spells in Scotland with Partick Thistle, before jaunts to Holland, Spain and Slovenia. His move back to France with Belfort then fell apart in dramatic fashion.

Now a free agent, Mathias spent Wednesday appearing on French TV on a popular nightly show playing table tennis with the host and promoting the '48 Hours for Guinea' charity which he and his siblings are keen supporters of.

Paul and Mathias' football careers have gone in completely different directions since a young age - but right now what they both have in common is a big question mark over their next moves.

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