The France midfielder, whose return to Juventus from Manchester United in July 2022 had already turned into a nightmare before this development, is reported to have tested positive after his club’s Serie A fixture against Udinese on August 20, a game in which he did not play.
Pogba has now been suspended by Italy's national anti-doping tribunal on an initial precautionary basis and has three days to request a B sample.
The maximum suspension in such cases is four years - an initial two-year ban, which can be doubled if it is proven that the substance was taken deliberately.
Juventus confirmed Pogba's provisional suspension in a club statement on Monday night.
The statement read: 'Juventus Football Club announces that today, September 11, 2023, the footballer Paul Labile Pogba received a precautionary suspension order from the National Anti-Doping Tribunal following the results of tests carried out on August 20, 2023.
'The club reserves the right to consider the next procedural steps.'
The most recent similar case in Serie A saw Atalanta’s Jose Luis Palomino banned and then absolved after having missed four months, when a positive test for the steroid clostebol was overturned by the B sample.
Pogba rejoined Juve after running down his contract at United but made only one start in the league last season due to numerous injury problems.
This term he figured in the matches against Bologna and Empoli before suffering further injury woe.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, released hours before news broke of Pogba’s doping test, the midfielder said: ‘I want to make people eat their words and prove I am not weak. People can criticise me, but I will never give up.
‘At times, when I have been alone, I have thought: "I don’t want to have money anymore. I don’t want to play football any longer. I want to be with normal people, that way they’ll love me for who I am, not for money or fame."
‘At times it’s hard. Money changes people and can destroy a family, it can create a war.’
Pogba had been linked with a move to Saudi Pro League club Al Ittihad this summer amid his difficulties at Juventus, where he is one of the highest-paid players.
