Paul Pogba, France’s star midfielder has reportedly quit the national football team over President Emmanuel Macron’s ‘Islamist terrorism’ statement, reports said.
Newsone Nigeria understands that Paul Pogba has reportedly quit the national football team over President Emmanuel Macron’s ‘Islamist terrorism’ statement, reports said on Monday. Pogba’s decision to reportedly leave the French team comes after President Macron said that ‘monstrosity of Islamist terrorism’ must be dealt with strongly. Macron’s comments come against the backdrop of the beheading of Samuel Paty – a school teacher who was killed for showing allegedly communal cartoons to school children.
According to reports, the 27-year-old World Cup-winning footballer – a practicing Muslim – decided to quit the national side in the wake of widespread outrage over Macron’s statement. However, neither Pogba nor the French Football Association have confirmed the star’s exit so far. Reports also suggest that Pogba was upset with the ‘offensive’ cartoons first published by Charlie Hebdo and that the decision of the French government to honour Samuel Paty triggered Pogba to take the call. Pogba, whose career kicked off in 2013 in France, played a central role in France’s 2018 World Cup triumph in Russia even scoring in the final against Croatia.