There were four minutes left to the end of the regular time of the match between Al Hilal, Saudi Arabia, and Iran’s Esteghlal, valid for the Champions League of Asia, when Neymar left the lawn slowly, complaining of pain in his right thigh, only 28 minutes after entering the field.
With a frustration expression, he headed for the reserve bench, where he removed his shin and threw them to the floor. The game, on November 4, was only the ace of the star in 2024 after 369 days of removal because of a serious left knee injury. It also ended up being his last official match for the Saudi team.
Hired in August 2023 by 320 million euros (about $ 1.7 billion at the quotation of the time), in a contract that included salaries, gloves and commercial agreements, the striker had a way short of what the club projected with the club High investment.
On Monday (27), the parties officialized the breach of the contract. Communicated soon, the team reported that the termination was in mutual agreement. Neymar had been negotiating the cancellation a few weeks ago, since he was dealing with his return to Santos, confirmed on Tuesday (28).
In two seasons linked to Al Hilal, Neymar played only seven matches, four as a starter, with a total of 428 minutes played and only one goal scored, against Nassaji Mazandaran, from Iran’s 3, 2023, by Champions of Asia.
Successive injuries and long recovery periods reinforced a negative mark of the Brazilian, which has made fewer matches year after year.
Since his participation in the last World Cup in 2022 at Qatar, when he was still a Paris Saint-Germain player, he only entered the field only 20 times, considering commitments by the French team (9), Al Hilal (7) and Brazilian National Team (4).
During this period, the player suffered four injuries, including the most serious of his career, a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and the left knee meniscus, which left him without acting for more than a year.
The period of inactivity prevented him from gaining Jorge Jesus’s confidence. Al Hilal coach chose not to enroll the athlete in the Saudi league even after his recovery. Before suffering his latest injury on his right thigh, he was playing only in games for Champions.
According to the database of the Specialized Ogol site, since the 2016/17 season, when he last wore the Barcelona shirt, the player never managed to pass the 40 -season brand in the same season – in his last season Year for the Catalan team, made 45 games.
In the six seasons he played for the French team, Neymar had an average of 28.8 matches a year, a 38% drop from 46.5 games for Barcelona.
While dressing the Catalan team’s shirt, his most serious physical problem was the fracture in the third lumbar vertebra, which took place during the 2014 World Cup. From February 2018, as as PSG athlete, the player had more injuries frequent.
The constant absences prevented him from helping the team at decisive times, especially in Champions League games, the big dream of the Paris club. This affected his image with the fans and was a determining factor for his departure from the team.
In Saudi Arabia, he didn’t even have a chance to build a deeper relationship with the fans. With two injuries during his passage at Al Hilal, he accounted for more physical problems than goals.
He also weighed against his image the fact that he did not give up on life even in periods of recovery, such as organizing a high section cruise in the final stretch of treatment after left knee surgery-he even released photos to show that he continued receiving medical care, which was not enough to avoid criticism.
Santos is aware of the long history of injuries that the star has accumulated since leaving the club that revealed him in 2013, besides knowing his behavior off the field.
The team understands that it can offer better conditions for him to recover his full physical condition, as well as confidence to be a decisive player again.
In his return to Brazilian football, Neymar’s main objective is to recover his space in the Brazilian team, just over a year from the next World Cup in 2026, jointly headquartered by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Coach Dorival Júnior has said several times that he wants to count on the star on the journey to the World Cup, especially to help the team leave the bad phase that lives in the qualifiers. Brazil is currently only the fifth place in the classification. Six countries guarantee direct place in the World Cup.
Neymar has not entered the field for the Brazilian team since October 2023, precisely when he suffered a serious left knee injury, during a match against Uruguay, for the World Cup qualifying.
