Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba claims he is being threatened and targeted for extortion by gangsters.
The Juventus and France midfielder issued a statement through his lawyers on Sunday saying the matter had been reported to the authorities. News agency AFP, citing a source, report that French police have opened an investigation.
Pogba’s allegations followed his brother Mathias, who spent two years playing for Wrexham between 2010 and 2012, publishing a video online promising “great revelations” about the Juventus star and his agent Rafael Pimenta. Pimenta took over as head of the company of Pogba's former agent Mino Raiola after he died in April.
A statement signed by Pimenta, Pogba's lawyers and his mother Yeo Moriba said the videos published on Saturday night “are unfortunately no surprise”.
“They are in addition to threats and extortion attempts by an organised gang against Paul Pogba,” read the statement.
“The competent bodies in Italy and France were informed a month ago and there will be no further comments in relation to the ongoing investigation.”
In the video, Mathias had promised “great revelations about [his] brother Paul Pogba and his agent Rafaela Pimenta”. He said the “whole world, as well as my brother’s fans, and even more so the French team and Juventus, my brother’s team-mates and his sponsors deserve to know certain things”.
Mathias added that people needed to know what he knew to judge whether his brother “deserves his place in the French team and the honour of playing in the World Cup. If he deserves to be a starter at Juventus”.
“All this is likely to be explosive,” he said.
AFP also report, according to two sources close to the Pogba family, that large sums of money are being demanded from Paul Pogba if he wants to avoid the dissemination of the allegedly compromising videos.
Pogba returned to Juventus on a free transfer this summer after six years at Old Trafford, and is currently sidelined with a knee injury. The 29-year-old is expected to return to action next month.
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