A small setback has ended the prospect of Paul Pogba making his Monaco debut at home to Tottenham in the Champions League.
Former Manchester United midfielder Pogba signed for the Ligue 1 club in June after he was allowed to resume his playing career in March following a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that reduced his four-year doping ban to 18 months.
Pogba was sanctioned at Juventus after testing positive for dehydroepiandrosterone in 2023.
The World Cup winner always maintained his innocence and was successful in his appeal, the CAS deeming his ingestion of the banned substance "not intentional".
The ex-France international was braced to make his Monaco debut – and his first appearance in more than two years – against Angers on Saturday before suffered another fitness issue, but new boss Sebastien Pocognoli senses light is at the end of the tunnel for the 32-year-old.
"Paul is training but not fully," Pocognoli said ahead of Wednesday's visit of Spurs.
"I think the process for Paul is a process to make everything step by step. (On Monday) he joined with the group for the first time under my coaching.
"He was smiling, he was enjoying and interacting with the players. For me, this is the first step and this step can take days, can take two to three weeks and then we can build on this through performance and the consistency.
"So, yeah, that is the first step and here we are. That is the situation, but I am very pleased, for sure, to see him on the pitch."
Pocognoli was only appointed on 11 October and the fixture with Tottenham will mark his own home debut at Stade Louis II.
The former West Brom left-back will be without Eric Dier due to a hamstring issue, but recalled fond memories of his only meeting with Spurs in 2014.
"I played once in the old stadium of Tottenham and I think the coach was (Mauricio) Pochettino," Pocognoli said. "I played against my former team-mate Nacer Chadli plus Mousa Dembele. It was in the old-fashioned stadium, it was a nice atmosphere and we won 1-0."
Alongside Pocognoli on pre-match media duties was Monaco attacker Maghnes Akliouche, who was linked with a move to Tottenham during the summer.
"It was very flattering to have these kind of stories and links but I am a Monaco player and I am playing against Tottenham, so I will give my best," the 23-year-old said.
"In terms of whether I want to play in the Premier League in the future… why not? But we’ll see. What is important for me is the game.
"The important thing for us is to win the game. I am not focused at all on other links and pressure."
Watch Eintracht Frankfurt vs Liverpool in the Champions League on Wednesday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport.
