Called up with an injury, Neymar has a history of injuries at Santos; remember

Last Monday (18), Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti announced the list of 26 players called up to compete in the 2026 World Cup at an event in Rio de Janeiro. Neymar Jr., who has not played for the Brazilian team since 2023, made the final list.

O shirt 10, however, has an injury to his right calf and may miss Amarelhinha in the friendlies against Panama and Egypt, in addition to losing Peixe’s last games until .

At 34 years old, Neymar played 28 games for the club in 2025out of 54. In 2026, he has already lost 16 of 32 matches. Neymar arrived at Santos from Al-Hilal after spending more than a year on the sidelines due to a torn ligament. He only returned to acting in October 2024when he returned and suffered another injury that kept him away from Al-Hilal for another two months.

Since arriving, at the beginning of 2025, the striker has already missed 44 games, between injuries and games in which he was rested, due to synthetic pitches or to preserve the player, totaling more than 200 days out of action. Neymar had to undergo surgery to repair his meniscus at the end of last year.

Operated on December 22nd, the star only returned to action in February 2026, missing 10 games in that period. Then, trying to lighten the load on the striker who managed to have a good run of games, Neymar missed two more games. One of them, , in which Ancelotti was present in the stands.

Now, after a 3-0 defeat to Coritiba in the Brazilian Championship, in which he suffered a new injury, against San Lorenzo, in the Copa Sudamericana. Santos tied 2-2. According to the medical department, the problem is an inflammatory response of the body to small injuries and does not represent a concern for the athlete’s participation in the World Cup.

Selection

In a note sent to Young Pan, the CBF informed that it “constantly receives reports and evaluations of all athletes called up, however, they will only be evaluated by the Brazilian National Team’s medical team after the official presentation.” According to the entity, until the presentation to the National Team, the only person who can provide information about the athletes’ health status is the athlete’s own club.

After the game against Coritiba, Neymar guaranteed be well physically. “There were years of a lot of work, also of a lot of wrong talk about my conditions and what I did. It’s very sad the way people talk about it. I worked hard, quietly, at home, suffering because of what people said and everything worked out. I got to where I wanted in one piece, I’m happy with my performance, for everything I’ve done so far. May tomorrow be God willing”, he said.