Pogba makes move to Partick Thistle on one-year deal

Partick Thistle have completed the signing of Mathias Pogba, brother of France and Juventus star Paul Pogba.

The 24-year-old striker joins on a one-year-deal with the option to extend by a further year.

He spent the second half of last season with Crawley Town, where he scored 2 goals in 17 appearances for the League One side.

Pogba expects to make his first appearance at Firhill this Sunday when Scottish Premiership champions Celtic come to Maryhill, and he claims he could not have asked for a better start.

“I think that’s the best debut I could have in my career,” said the Guinea international. “I can't wait to be on the pitch to give it my all and plus it’s Celtic, we are expecting a really big game. Hopefully we get a good result against them.

“I’ve been waiting nearly all summer to get something. Partick Thistle was the first proper offer I received so after all this waiting time at home I said ‘let’s do this, I’m ready to go again’.”

“My brothers are always coming to watch some games of mine so if they have any spare time they will definitely.”

Mathias is confident his brother Paul will be joining him at Firhill in the near future, but unfortunately for Thistle fans it won’t be as part of the playing squad:

“My brothers are always coming to watch some games of mine so if they have any spare time they will definitely come here.

“Play alongside me? He is too expensive for this league. Nobody can pay what he is worth today so I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring him here.

“To be honest with you he’s not going anywhere. He’s a Juventus player. The interest is there but right now he’s playing, he’s enjoying himself in Italy. “

The imposing 6ft striker started his career in the youth ranks at Celta Vigo in Spain before moving to lower league French side Quimper. He then crossed the channel to play for Wrexham in the National Conference.

Most tellingly, Pogba also had a spell with Crewe Alexandra where he played with Thistle’s current captain Abdul Osman. And he says the Jags skipper was influential in his decision to move to Glasgow.

“I played with him for two years at Crewe. He’s a good friend of mine so we had a chat and he pushed me a little bit to come here and do well with him.”

Alan Archibald’s newest addition to his squad will wear the number 99 shirt this campaign as both his favourite numbers were already taken.

He said: “The number nine was picked, and then number 90 was picked as well and that’s my two numbers. So I said okay let's double the number on the shirt and maybe it’s a good thing, maybe it’s a bad thing, who knows?”

And this is not the first famous brother to infiltrate the Scottish leagues this summer. Pogba joins Thistle just a week after Wesley Sneijder’s brother Rodney signed with Premiership rivals Dundee United.