Paul Pogba has reportedly quit international football after French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments on ‘Islamist terrorism’
The Manchester United midfielder, 27, allegedly made the decision after President Macron said on Friday October 23, that ‘monstrosity of Islamist terrorism’ must be dealt with strongly.
The president was speaking in the wake of the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, 47, who was attacked on his way home from the junior high school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 40km northwest of Paris.
He was accused of showing his class two offensive cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
Mr. Paty was posthumously awarded the French Legion d’honneur, France’s highest honour, in recognition of the fact that he died for trying to explain the importance of freedom of speech.
President Macron described the murder as an ‘Islamic terrorist attack’ that took the life of the French teacher, according to The Sun.
He reportedly said: “Unity and firmness are the only answers to the monstrosity of Islamist terrorism.”
Pogba’s apparent resignation was published Sunday October 25, in the Arabic sports website 195sports.com.
The report said the decision to give the teacher the Legion d’honneur and the comments made by President Macron made Pogba quit international football.
Pogba, who is a devoted Muslim made his international debut back in 2013 and went on to lift the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He has won 72 caps and scored ten goals for Les Bleus.
