Friend: Pogba was crying 'I don't want to play football anymore'

Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba considered quitting football at the height of an alleged extortion attempt against him.

That's according to close friend Boubacar Camara, who says Pogba struggled to handle being allegedly threatened by armed men demanding money they claimed was owed.

Camara recalled to the JDD: "He had trouble speaking and then he tells me that he and my little brother had been robbed by hooded guys with weapons.

"That these guys tell him that they have ensured his protection for thirteen years and that now he has to pay and there, they asked him for 13 million euros. Paul said to me at that time: how do you want me to give him this sum, I don't want to play football anymore, I want to disappear.

"Paul was crying. I told him to calm down. He called I don't know who. He was afraid for his children, his wife, his family."

Pogba's older brother Mathias is currently being held in custody as French authorities investigate the case.