Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has given his support to gay footballers, saying any of them who came out would be respected in the Premier League.
Pogba, 24, was speaking at the launch of UEFA’s RESPECT campaign in Monaco, where stars of the game were helping to promote diversity,fan culture and accessibility for everyone in footballahead oftoday’s Champions League group stage draws and Uefa Player of the Season Award,Goalwrites.
Asked if the league would provide a safe environment for a gay player, Pogba said:
“That’s something that I’ve never seen but why not? It’s a human being.“What he does in his private life has nothing to do with the player. You just have to respecthim.
Because he respects you, you respect him. That’s it.“It’s all about respect. It’s all about equality everywhere in the world. We are all equal when we play football.
”Pogba enjoys the dab with United colleague Lingard (Archive)Former Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger is the only Premier League player to have openly declared his homosexuality, but did so after retiring from the game.
The France internationalwas also asked about the2018 World Cup in Russiaand the concerns that have been raised about potential racism.
“We can play with Chinese people, African guys, French, American, but we’re all equal when we do what we love on the pitch, and that’s the message we want to give to everyone.“It’s a big thing, the World Cup, and we all play to win. But there has always been the respect on the pitch and outside the pitch and we hope that nothing is going to happen.
“Hopefully nothing will happen but we can just talk, help each other, and talk about racism and equality on the pitch.
We can’t really do anything about it but give everyone a good message to avoid those things.”
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