'I am not a cheater' – Paul Pogba sets sights on return to France team

Paul Pogba has insisted he is not a cheater after his doping ban was reduced earlier this month and targeted a return to the French national team when his suspension expires in March.

Former Manchester United midfielder Pogba was banned for four years in March after being provisionally suspended since September last year after he tested positive for dehydroepiandrosterone.

After a lengthy appeal process, the 31-year-old had his ban reduced to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 4 October and he can resume his career in March.

The CAS judgment found Pogba's ingestion of the banned substance "was not intentional" and was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed to him by a doctor in Florida.

In an interview with Sky Sports News, the 2018 World Cup winner reiterated he has always been a clean athlete.

Pogba said: "I mean when you see me, you know me and people know me so even when all the thing happened, they were like 'no, for sure we know Paul, he would never take that. If he did, he didn’t know or it wasn’t on purpose’. And this is totally the truth.

"I am an honest person and I would say it. At the end, I would say it ‘yes I did because I felt like I need it’ and that’s not the case. This is not me. I am not a cheater.

"I am someone who loves my sport, I love the game and I would never ever. I don’t like to cheat. I like to win fairly and people know that. You see it. You see me, I am someone who is a bad loser, but I am not a cheater. That’s for sure."

While Pogba is still contracted to Juventus until 2026, the 91-capped France international was coy about his club future and fielded various questions about where his next destination could be.

A mutual termination of his contract with the Serie A