Former Napoli fitness chief Corrado Saccone has questioned Juventus’ handling of Paul Pogba’s preseason knee injury.

Pogba, upon returning to Juve from Manchester United last summer, broke down in training in the first week of their preseason tour of the USA.

While many inside the club pushed for surgery, Pogba insisted on avoiding the knife and instead opted for a course of rehabilitation. With an eye on the World Cup with France, the midfielder was reluctant to take the surgery route given the time needed for a full recovery.

However, the decision backfired, with Pogba not only aggravating the injury, but eventually being forced to undergo the operation and in the process miss the World Cup.

Watching on has been Saccone, who spent six years with Napoli working with the likes of Rafa Benitez and Maurizio Sarri, before leaving for club football in Albania.

Asked about the Pogba controversy, he told Tribalfootball.com: “The choice to bring Pogba back to Juventus was an important decision.

“But after the injury the choice of doing therapy rather than going to surgery maybe didn’t bring the result everybody at the club wanted.

“When this type of choice is made, it is never easy and you don’t know what will happen.”

However, while raising the gamble that any such decision entails, Saccone does say someone at Juve needed to take firmer responsibility during the entire process.

He added, “I think that maybe someone there has some responsibility, because for Juventus to lose a important player like him has created great damage.”