Lucien Favre didn’t hold back when talking with reporters following OGC Nice’s Champions League play-off exit Tuesday, singling out Mario Balotelli and the club’s board for criticism.

Favre, who was approached to succeed Thomas Tuchel at Borussia Dortmund in the summer, watched several of his players underperform as Napoli completed a 4-0 aggregate victory to reach the Champions League group stages at Nice’s expense.

“I don’t want to comment on Balotelli,” Favre told Brian Homewood from Reuters when asked of his view on what was a distracted and lethargic outing from the Italian marksman. “It wasn’t very satisfactory, it was not good enough.”

Favre added that Balotelli was too slow leaving the pitch when he was substituted.

The Balotelli incident that left Favre most irritated occurred when Jose Callejon made it 1-0 after 48 minutes. The former Manchester City and AC Milan striker wasn’t on the pitch, but instead rowing with the fourth official in the technical area. The arguing appeared to relate to him wearing a white bandage over jewellery on his wrist – which is outlawed in football.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Favre, perhaps ruing the job at Dortmund that could’ve been his, then hinted he was unimpressed with the support he has been given when trying to assemble a team that can compete in Europe’s elite club competition.

“To build, you have to replace the material that was there before. We have not replaced yet, far from it,” Favre complained to beIN Sports, as reported by Get French Football.

“It is difficult to find players 10 days before the end of the window, very difficult.”

So far in the summer transfer window, players have been signed relatively cheaply from fellow French teams, with the exception of Wesley Sneijder, who joined for free after a spell in Turkey. Going the other way have been Dalbert and Valentin Eysseric, both of whom shifted to Serie A, and rumours have stepped up in recent days that Jean Michael Seri is nearing a transfer to Barcelona.

Nice returns to action in Saturday’s Ligue 1 trip to Amiens SC – a match Seri declared his availability for – and will embark on another Europa League escapade from mid-September.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Aaron Donald still hasn’t reported to the Los Angeles Rams, and there is no telling when he will. But first-year head coach Sean McVay speaks to Donald on the phone from time to time. They talk about football, nothing else — and usually it’s McVay who reaches out first.

“I’ve kind of been chasing him around like I’m chasing a girl in high school,” McVay said, laughing, on Saturday, eight days before his team begins its season. “… I’ve reached out to Aaron, but it’s kind of been a back-and-forth. He’s a guy that I enjoy talking to. I’ll enjoy it a lot more when I see him in person.”

Donald’s holdout will hit 38 days by the end of this week, which amounts to $1.52 million in fines — nearly as much as his $1.80 million base salary for 2017.

The crucial day is seemingly Monday, Labor Day, one McVay called “the first day of true preparation for our team and for the Colts.” The Rams will then be off on Tuesday. If Donald doesn’t report by Monday, it will be hard to envision him playing in the Sept. 10 opener against the Indianapolis Colts.

“I’m an optimistic guy,” McVay said when asked if he was hopeful of seeing Donald on Monday. “I’m always going to take the positive approach.”

But there hasn’t been any indication that a deal between the defensive end and the Rams is close. The Rams’ front office — a contingent that included COO Kevin Demoff, general manager Les Snead and senior assistant Tony Pastoors — flew to Atlanta to meet with Donald’s representatives at CAA on Wednesday, but weren’t any closer to a deal by the time they left.

“Aaron’s a very special player to us,” McVay said. “We want him here, and we want him to be a part of this. With what these players have started to create, I think it would be special to have Aaron be a part of that.”

The Rams have continually said the right things publicly — dating all the way back to early March, when Snead said at the scouting combine that Donald “deserves a raise” — but apparently haven’t put the right things on paper.

Demoff, Snead and Pastoors have made it a point to keep McVay out of the details of their negotiations. McVay appreciates that. It allows McVay to focus only on football in his conversations with Donald. They talk about what he has missed and how he fits, and McVay tells him how badly he wants him around. He believes the feeling is mutual.

“He wants to be here,” McVay said of Donald. “We respect their approach and where they’re at, their stance, based on what they want to get accomplished out of these things. But with regards to mine and Aaron’s dialogue, it’s been exclusively player-coach football related stuff. That’s what you want it to be.”

With Donald out, the Rams’ only solidified starter in 3-4 base sets appears to be Michael Brockers. The other five down linemen, after the Rams trimmed their roster to 53 players, are Ethan Westbrooks, Louis Trinca-Pasat, Morgan Fox, Tyrunn Walker and Tanzel Smart. They all have a chance to get significant playing time now.

Donald is owed less than $9 million in base salary from 2017 to 2018, representing a significant gap between him and the game’s highest-paid defensive players. Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller signed a six-year, $114 million contract that guarantees him $70 million, and Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh signed a six-year, $114.375 million deal that guarantees him nearly $60 million. But Miller and Suh got their deals after five NFL seasons, not three.

Giorgio Chiellini’s right calf complaint that sees him left out of Italy’s vital World Cup qualifier against Spain on Saturday could also lead him to miss key club clashes.

Following his return to Juventus for further examination, the club announced the defender is doubtful for next Saturday’s visit from Chievo Verona, as well as the Champions League curtain-raiser in Barcelona three days later.

Those not called up for international duty underwent an intense session Saturday overseen by Massimiliano Allegri. Chiellini had started the campaign alongside Daniele Rugani in Juve’s back two, and will likely be replaced by either Andrea Barzagli or new arrival Benedikt Howedes.

On the international stage, Giampiero Ventura may be tempted to call Rugani into the starting lineup and return to the old favoured back-three, although this could be detrimental to the freedom of the Azzurri’s talented wide players higher up the park. In recent outings, Ventura has preferred a 4-2-4 formation, which got the best out of Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne.

We’ve been tracking significant preseason injuries all summer, starting with Week 1 and including Week 2 and Week 3.

Because the NFL’s most notable players were safely tucked away in Week 4, let’s use this opportunity to review the top 10 (or so) injuries since the start of training camp — and examine their longer-term implications. Late-breaking Week 4 injuries — most notably, Cincinnati Bengals rookie receiver John Ross’s knee ailment of unknown severity — will be updated as warranted.

Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins

Injury: Torn left ACL

Date injured: Aug. 3, in practice

Looking ahead: Tannehill will miss the season, but the Dolphins rebounded about as well as could be expected by luring Jay Cutler out of retirement. It’s reasonable to think that Cutler, still young at 34, could perform at about the same level as Tannehill would have in 2017. Tannehill should be able to resume his role in 2018, but it’s worth noting that the Dolphins could release him in March while absorbing a modest $4.6 million salary-cap hit.

Julian Edelman, WR, New England Patriots

Injury: Torn right ACL

Date injured: Aug. 25, in preseason Week 3

Looking ahead: Edelman will miss the season, robbing quarterback Tom Brady of his favorite target from the past four seasons and a player who has accounted for a team-high 195 first-down receptions during that span. The Patriots are fortunate to have one of the deepest groups of experienced receivers in the NFL, from Danny Amendola to Chris Hogan to Brandin Cooks to Malcolm Mitchell. Tight end Rob Gronkowski also made it through the preseason healthy. But there is no denying the unique nature of the Brady-Edelman connection.

Cameron Meredith, WR, Chicago Bears

Injury: Torn left ACL, MCL

Date injured: Aug. 27, in preseason Week 3

Looking ahead: Meredith was the Bears’ leading receiver in 2016 (66 receptions, 888 yards), and there was every reason to think he would build off of that performance. Injuries have hampered the Bears’ attempt to deepen their receivers group. Free-agent acquisition Markus Wheaton underwent an emergency appendectomy at the start of camp and then broke his pinky finger Aug. 13 in practice. Another free agent, Rueben Randle, was placed on injured reserve because of a hamstring injury. Wheaton should be ready for the season, but the key to this group will be 2015 first-round pick Kevin White. Now is the time for him to emerge as a No. 1 receiver.

Quincy Enunwa, WR, New York Jets

Injury: Bulging disc in neck

Date injured: Aug. 5, in practice

Looking ahead: Enunwa needed surgery and will miss the season, removing from the lineup one of the few genuine threats in the Jets’ passing game. (He averaged a team-high 14.8 yards per reception in 2016.) When you add in the free-agent departures of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, and the season-ending ACL tear suffered by Devin Smith this spring, you don’t see many offensive playmakers remaining on the roster.

Spencer Ware, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

Injury: Torn right PCL, LCL

Date injured: Aug. 19, in preseason Week 3

Looking ahead: Tearing a PCL is relatively rare and extremely serious in terms of maintaining a professional football career. Ware will miss at least this season. If there is good news for the Chiefs, it’s that rookie Kareem Hunt — a third-round draft pick from Toledo — has been impressive this summer and is relatively ready to jump into Ware’s role.

George Fant, LT, Seattle Seahawks

Injury: Torn ACL in right knee

Date injured: Aug. 18, in preseason Week 2

Looking ahead: Losing a left tackle for the season is almost always a major setback for a team, and it’s no different for the Seahawks. No matter what optimism you hear about second-year player Rees Odhiambo, Fant’s likely replacement, rest assured that most NFL teams are lucky to have a good first option at left tackle, let alone a competent backup. To be sure, Fant had plenty of work to do himself in order to become an upper-tier player. But he had gained 25 pounds in the offseason and had a full season of starting experience under his belt. At the very least, quarterback Russell Wilson’s blind side will be in inexperienced hands.

Ryan Kelly, C, Indianapolis Colts

Injury: Broken foot

Date injured: Aug. 13, in practice

Looking ahead: Kelly had surgery in mid-August and was projected at the time to need six to eight weeks of recovery time. That would put him back on the field before midseason but still leave the Colts without an important player for an extended period of time. For now, they’ve replaced him with undrafted rookie Deyshawn Bond. Inexperience at center often leads to offensive struggles, especially early in a season.

Kerry Hyder, DL, Detroit Lions

Injury: Torn left Achilles tendon

Date injured: Aug. 13, in preseason Week 1

Looking ahead: It’s not easy to replace an interior disruptor that erupted for eight sacks last season, and the Lions will have the extra burden of doing it without one of Hyder’s key backups. Defensive tackle Jordan Hill went on injured reserve this week because of a biceps injury, in essence leaving the Lions without two of their top five interior defenders before the season starts. They also have spent the summer without defensive end Ezekiel Ansah, who has been on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list because of an undisclosed injury. Ansah is expected to be activated soon, but it’s not reasonable to expect him to be at full strength right away.