Paul Pogba threatened by ‘men with assault rifles’ demanding 13 million euros, French Police opens investigation

The French police have initiated an investigation against the claims made by France and Juventus star Paul Pogba, who stated that he is being blackmailed by gangsters which involves his brother Mathias, who also is a footballer. The development was confirmed to news agency AFP by a source. The matter came to light after Mathias released a video online, in four languages (French, Italian, English and Spanish), which promised “great revelations” about the star midfielder.

Meanwhile, Paul’s lawyers, his mother Yeo Moriba and current agent Rafaela Pimenta in a statement said that the videos shared by Mathias on Saturday night were “no surprise”.

“They are in addition to threats and extortion attempts by an organised gang against Paul Pogba,” the statement further read.

“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.”

Mathias, Guinean footballer, in the video posted on Saturday promised “great revelations about (his) brother Paul Pogba and his agent Rafaela Pimenta.”

“Whole world, as well as my brother’s fans, and even more so the French team and Juventus, my brother’s team-mates and his sponsors deserve to know certain things,” the AFP report quoted Mathias as saying.

Mathias stated that the fans need to know what he knew in order to judge whether Paul “deserves his place in the French team and the honour of playing in the World Cup. If he deserves to be a starter at Juventus.”

“All this is likely to be explosive,” he concluded without digging deep about the “revelations” he plans to make.

The report also mentioned that huge amount of money has also been demanded from Paul in order to avoid the situation. As per French media reports, the star footballer has also informed the investigators of being threatened by “childhood friends and two hooded men armed with assault rifles”, who demanded for 13 million euros from him for the “services provided”.

Kylian Mbappe’s name has also been dragged into the middle. As per the report, Pogba said that his blackmailers have an intention to discredit him by making false claims of the French midfielder asking a marabout (holy man) to cast a spell on the Paris Saint-Germain and France forward Mbappe.

Mathias, who is keeping a keen eye on the developments, on Sunday posted: “Paul, you really wanted to shut me up and lie and send me to prison.

“You left me in the hole, while running away and you want to play the innocent. When all is said people will see that there is no bigger coward, bigger traitor and bigger hypocrite than you on this earth.”

Pogba, who is a World Cup winner, returned to his former club Juventus after spending six years at Manchester United. He, however is out of action due to a knee injury, and is expected to return to action next month.