Javier Pastore hopes sitting out the upcoming Argentina friendlies will make him healthier and able to go the distance for Paris Saint-Germain's entire season.
Pastore is optimistic he will return soon to Ligue 1 action and said that while missing Argentina's September friendlies will be hard, being healthy for the whole season and for 2018 World Cup qualifying is even more important.
The 26-year-old midfielder said he had been playing all summer through a calf injury from last season, and that his time at the Copa America hindered his preseason preparations with the French club and prevented him from fully recovering.
The Cordoba native missed PSG's Trophee des Champions victory match last month in Montreal but said he hopes to be on the pitch to help the team defend its other three domestic titles from the previous season.
"The injury is coming along," he told ESPN FC Argentina radio 107.9. "I had it at the end of last season. It is in my calf, which is a strange muscle injury to come back from because the pain goes away and then four days later when you want to run again it returns and is bothersome.
"That is why the club decided to just stop everything for 15 days so that I could get better and then start the season without any problems."
Pastore said he was upset about the injury because it meant not joining the Albiceleste for the September friendlies.
"What makes me the most sad was that I had to miss the call-up and those matches are always important, but it is all for the best so that I can have a healthy year and be in the next call-ups."
He said he is happy to see how PSG have grown as a club. Les Parisiens became the first team in French football history to win Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue and the Trophee des Champions in one season.
They reached the Champions League quarterfinals and eliminated Chelsea in the round of 16, but their exit to Barcelona exposed a lack of strength in depth.
"This started four years ago and we have little by little gone and added really good players each year," he said. "The team knows each other and plays well together. We have improved a lot. To have won the four titles last year is something really important.
"We want to do it again this year but we also want to improve our finish in the Champions [League]. We had hoped to have better luck in the draw."
PSG were drawn with Real Madrid in Group A, along with Shakhtar Donetsk, who lost Luiz Adriano and Douglas Costa over the summer, and Malmo, who make only their second-ever Champions League appearance.
"In the Champions League we have shown important growth," Pastore said. "We went out in the quarterfinals, but it was different. Last year we lost by a smaller margin and against Barcelona, who are above all the others."