Paul Pogba is reportedly being extorted by a gang that involves his brother. Philippe Auclair joined The Football Show to discuss the facts of the story.
Paul Pogba is a very rich man.
Juventus pay Pogba a lot of money. He also makes a fortune in off-field endorsement deals. Pogba is famous all around the world as a great footballer. He is also famous as an overtly rich footballer. But strangers didn't extort him. It wasn't someone who saw him from afar and targeted his wealth.
Instead, it was those who he should have been able to trust. That includes Mathias Pogba, his own brother and former professional footballer.
Philippe Auclair provides all the facts that we know so far:
"Fortunately, we can now ascertain what happened," Auclair said.
"The French investigators have told us a few things about what is going on exactly here. Paul Pogba went back from Manchester United at the end of March this year and he went to visit his family. And when he went to visit his family, basically, I don't think there's another word but kidnapped.
"He was forced to follow a few people who would be called childhood friends, I'm putting inverted commas around the word friends here. They took him to an apartment in Paris where there were a couple of guys with balaclavas and assault rifles.
"And then they proceeded to ask him for €13 million.
"The justification for that, if there can be a justification of any kind, being that they had discreetly, silently protected him ever since he became a professional footballer.
"It's basically extortion here that we're talking about and huge pressure.
"You can imagine the impact on him. And obviously there's no way he could pay this amount of money. He tried to get at least €1 million I believe, but of course the bank wouldn't allow him to do this kind of thing for money laundering purposes.
"The maximum he was able to get out was €100,000, which he paid to these people."
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