The Paul Pogba injury crisis has escalated quickly. Tuesday night, following Manchester United’s 3-0 home win over Basel in the UEFA Champions League group stages, there was still hope that his time table for recovery would be measured in days, not weeks. After all, the injury is muscular, which is generally less serious in nature than skeletal or joint issues.
Then on Wednesday, the star midfielder underwent a scan and the results led to multiple outlets reporting an estimated absence of about a month.
He was initially rendered a doubt for the highly anticipated October 14th match-up at Liverpool, but not ruled out entirely just yet.
More scans on Thursday, and apparently more bad news because now Pogba has been reportedly deemed, in the words of Wycleaf Jean, “gone till November.”
NBC Sports writes that: “multiple reports suggest the central midfielder, who has been a star for United in the opening weeks of the season, could be out until the end of October.”
In this scenario, Paul Pogba would miss United’s Premier League fixtures against Everton, Southampton, (the aforementioned Liverpool clash), Huddersfield Town, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace. He’d also be absent the LeagueCup tie against Burton on September 20, the Champions League match against CSKA Moscow September 27, and both legs of the Benfica UCL tie.
What a horribly disappointing turn of events that would be, especially considering how well both he and United have started the season.
Pogba, in a game that saw him handed the captain’s arm band for the first tine in a United shirt Tuesday night, left hobbling after just 17 minutes of action. He later left Old Trafford on crutches.
It looked bad then for sure, but not everybody thought the prognosis would eventually be this bad. Given the news today, it looks like the return of Paul Pogba could come November 5 against Chelsea.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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