Paul Pogba has claimed that he is the target of an extortion attempt by an “organised gang” after his brother took to social media promising “explosive” revelations about the Juventus star.
In a video posted on social media, Mathias Pogba said he would reveal “very important things” about his brother and other people close to him.
Mathias Pogba said: “I believe the French, Italian and English public, my brother’s fans, and even more – the French national team, the Juventus team, my brother’s teammates, and his sponsors – deserve to know certain things in order to make an informed decision whether he deserves the admiration and respect and love of the public.
The French international’s lawyers, mother and agent have released a statement in response to the allegations, saying that the “recent declarations of Mathias Pogba on social media are unfortunately not a surprise”.
They claimed that his brother’s outburst comes after “threats and attempts of extortion by an organised gang against Paul Pogba”.
“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,” they continued.
The police investigation into the alleged extortion attempts has been open since the beginning of August in France, according to news website Franceinfo.
It reported that the World Cup winner has apparently told the authorities that an organised gang, which allegedly involved some of his childhood friends, demanded €13m from him and intimidated him several times.
He was harassed by them at the Juventus training centre in Turin and told the police that he recognised one of the group as his brother Mathias.
On 25 and 28 March, when the then Manchester United midfielder was visiting his family in Paris, friends allegedly dragged him to an apartment and blamed him for not helping them financially since becoming a professional football player. Two armed men were among the group, the French media reported.
Pogba reportedly told the police that the blackmailers would seek to discredit him in the media and would claim that he asked a marabout, a Muslim religious leader, to cast a spell on his international teammate Kylian Mbappe – something Pogba denies he did.
