By Tim Stannard

Neymar remains talk of the town ahead of PSG's Trophee des Champions clash on Saturday with Rennes

Arguably one of the greatest soccer players on the planet in this particular moment of space-time has also been the quietest this summer. 

However, Kylian Mbappe broke that silence on Friday to talk about the mammoth-elephant-dinosaur hybrid in the room at PSG - Neymar. 

Neymar 101: the footballer is either going to refuse to play a minute for the team this season, get a move to Barcelona next week or agree to play one more year with the Ligue 1 side. Take your pick of possibilities being fomented this week out of Paris. 

However, Mbappe is hoping for option three with the French forward speaking on Friday to say that "I don't want him to go. I want him to stay with us. I've talked to him about this."

The other positive piece of new for PSG is that Neymar is back training with the team and appears to be sporting a smile of some sort. 

Indeed, Thomas Tuchel announced that the Brazilian is in fine cheer. "His spirits are very good," said the German coach on a player who has either given in to staying at PSG or knows something we don't.

Both Mbappe and Tuchel were speaking ahead of the Trophee des Champions clash against Rennes which is taking place in China on Saturday morning and is live on beIN SPORTS from 7:25AM ET / 4:25AM PT. 

The last time PSG faced Rennes was in the Coup de France final and matters did not go well with PSG losing a two goal lead and then a penalty shoot-out. Neymar then decided to hit a fan, which is why the Brazilian is suspended for the French season's kick off encounter. 

The Sports Burst live show will be looking ahead to the game and everything else in the transfer world on our beIN SPORTS Facebook USA page at 12PM ET / 9AM PT. 

Real Madrid Pogba replacement and Argentinean issues 

Real Madrid seems to have a plan B, if the club fails to bring in Paul Pogba. That's assuming that the French midfielder is a Plan A in the first place. 

The Spanish press is reporting that the club is targeting young Ajax midfielder, Donny van der Beek.

Tense times in Turin between Juventus and Paolo Dybala. The Old Lady reportedly wants to send the playmaker to Manchester United in return for Romelu Lukaku but the player's list of financial demands for a move the Argentinean doesn't want are not making life any easier. 

Actually, there are tense times in Milan as well with a reported standoff between Mauro Icardi and Inter's bosses. The Instagram-obsessed striker was told that he was unlikely to play for Antonio Conte this season. The response from Icardi was to declare that he would only agree a move to Juventus. 

Meanwhile, sluggish talks continue between Napoli and Hirving Lozano's camp over a move to the Serie A side after PSV crashed out of the Champions League in the qualifying stages this week. 

The race to stop Marquez and Hamilton gets underway

Moto GP returns to the beIN SPORTS airwaves this weekend and the challenge is to catch the motorbike pigeon of Marc Marquez who has a 58-point lead in the standings. 

The riders are in the Czech Republic with qualifying taking place on Saturday and the race in full on Sunday. Coverage of all the action is live on Sunday morning from 4:55AM PT / 1:55AM PT. 

Lewis Hamilton is the runaway leader in Formula 1, but 21-year-old Max Verstappen has won two of the last three races and is looking to build on the momentum of a madcap, rain-hammered victory in Germany last weekend to close down a 63 point gap on the English driver. 

Mild cloud and sun is forecast for Budapest on Sunday which is a bit of a shame.

The world of boxing continued to be a befuddling place. 

Friday sees former legend and promoter, Oscar de la Hoya, swinging at the IBF's decision to take Canelo Alvarez's title away after both the Mexican's party and also that of mandated challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko failed to come up with agreement over a title bout. "An insult to boxing," claimed de la Hoya. 

And cricket sees day two of the Ashes and...no? All gone? Ok. Fine.