Sports Burst - Messi's Mind: "Motivated and Happy"
A cheery Mauricio Pochettino spills the beans on the first few days of a cheery Lionel Messi at PSG
By Tim Stannard
Pochettino says Messi is "motivated and happy" but will only play for PSG when he is ready
Day three of Lionel Messi at PSG.
There's at least 728 left so better buckle up for a lot more to come.
Friday saw an understandably perky Mauricio Pochettino speaking before PSG's home opener against Strasbourg on Saturday and had just the one or two topics to cover. The biggest of all was when Messi would play his first minutes with PSG and if they would be against Strasbourg. A tiny chance perhaps?
Probably not, although at time of writing the PSG match day squad had not been released.
"(Today) is only the second training session after a month. The priority is that he is ok, feels good and when he is in the best condition he can play," confirmed Pochettino who was pleased to give another update that his new charge and countryman was feeling "very motivated and happy."
And as for the thousand other questions on the new PSG line-up such as the Donnarumma vs. Keylor Navas battle, the answer was "slowly, slowly" on when these decisions would be made.
There was also an update on another former LaLiga star who joined up for free - Sergio Ramos. The Real Madrid player has continued to struggle with a calf injury but the club states that the defender could be back in action after the international break in mid-September.
Catch PSG vs. Strasbourg at a full Parc de Princes live on beIN SPORTS on Saturday at 3PM ET / 12PM PT.
Di Maria predicts Mbappe to stay
Angel di Maria has given a big clue as to the current mind-swirls of Kylian Mbappe. The PSG forward is out of contract in the summer of 2022 - which is a year away apparently - and PSG president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, has been putting on the hard sell of late to poke Mbappe into signing another deal. "I think Kylian has everything he needs to stay here," said Al-Khelaifi.
Di Maria agrees completely, telling ESPN in Argentina that "I don't think he is going to go. I don't think he'll find a better team than here."
Besiktas continue classic summer for Canadian soccer
Our Thomas Rongen says that if you ain't Dutch then you ain't much. Well, over the past few months if you ain't Canadian then you ain't...er...nothing rhymes. Got nothing.
Any hoo - it has been the summer of Canadian soccer so far. It all started off on the men's side, when Jonathan David won the Ligue 1 title with Lille while Atiba Hutchinson and Cyle Larin cliched the Turkish Super Lig title with Besiktas. The Canadian women's team then went on to vanquish the Americans before winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
