Neymar in action for Santos© AFP

Neymar got a bit emotional during his unveiling at theEstadio Urbano Caldeira.© AFP

Brazilian star Neymar on Monday ended his injury-plagued 18 month stay in Saudi Arabia as his club, Al-Hilal said they had “agreed to terminate the player’s contract by mutual consent”. “The club expresses its thanks and appreciation to Neymar for what he has provided throughout his career with Al-Hilal, and wish the player success in his career,” said a club statement posted on social media. The 32-year-old former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward played just seven times since joining the club in August 2023, despite a reported salary of around $104 million a year.

Neymar, the subject of what is still the biggest transfer in football history when he joined Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona in 2017 for a fee of 220 million euros ($230 million at), joined Al-Hilal in August 2023.

He followed fellow superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to the lucrative Saudi league.

But two months after his arrival in Riyadh, he ruptured a cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing for Brazil in a World Cup qualifier in October 2023, which kept him on the sidelines for a year.

He returned for Al Hilal with two brief appearances in October and November but injured a hamstring and has not played since. He said he is targeting the World Cup.

The club’s coach Jorge Jesus said recently: “He can no longer play at the level we are used to. Things have become difficult for him, unfortunately.”

Earlier in January, Neymar said he was aiming to play in the 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico.

‘Last shot’

“I know this will be my last World Cup, my last shot, my last chance and I will do everything I can to play in it,” he told CNN.

While Neymar had been curted by MLS teams in the United States, reports in Brazil said Santos, the club where Neymar made his name in his now fading career, was in talks for him to return to his homeland.

A return to Brazil would likely be the last chance for a player who is his country’s all-time leading scorer with 79 goals in 127 matches.

At the start of his career he was cast as the heir to Pele.

After scoring 107 goals in 177 appearances for Santos, he joined Barcelona in 2013, becoming the young star of a team that also featured Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, which swept to the Champions League title in 2015 by beating Juventus 3-1 in the final in Berlin.

A year later he scored the winning penalty in a shootout as Brazil won the men’s football gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

In 2017, Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain prised him away from Barcelona with what is still a world-record transfer fee of 220 million euros ($230 million).

He won five Ligue 1 titles and he and prolific French forward Kylian Mbappe led PSG to the final of the Champions League in the Covid-blighted 2019-2020, but they lost to Bayern Munich.

PSG reunited Neymar with Messi in the French capital, but the trio with Mbappe failed to gel as personal rivalries got in the way and he was pushed to the exit, and to Saudi Arabia, by the Parisian management in 2023.

Neymar is under contract with the Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal until June.© AFP

Brazilian striker Neymar said Thursday that former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe became “jealous” of his relationship with Lionel Messi when the Argentine superstar joined the club in 2021. Speaking on a podcast hosted by former Brazil striker Romario, Neymar blamed a clash of egos for the failure of the three stars to gel during their spell together at the French club. The 32-year-old Neymar, who left PSG for Saudi club Al-Hilal in 2023, said he initially got on well with Mbappe when the France international joined him at PSG in 2017. “I had my issues with him, we had a little fight, but he was a boy who at the beginning, when he arrived, was fundamental,” Neymar said of Mbappe. 

“I always told him, I joked with him, that he was going to be one of the best, I always helped him, I talked to him. 

“He came to my house, we went out to dinner together.”

But Neymar said Mbappe’s behavior changed when Messi arrived from Barcelona in 2021. Neymar already had a relationship with Messi from their successful stint as teammates at Barcelona between 2013 and 2017.

“We spent some good years together, but then, when Messi arrived, I think he got a little jealous,” Neymar said. 

“He didn’t want to share me with anyone and then the fights began, the change of behavior,” he added. 

Neymar added that a lack of teamwork lay behind the failure of PSG’s superstar trio to fully realise their potential.

“You have to realise that you don’t play alone. You have to have the others on your side: ‘I’m the best, OK’, but who’s going to give you the ball? You have to have good people who give you the ball,” Neymar said.

“It was everyone’s ego…so it couldn’t work. Nowadays, if nobody runs, if nobody helps each other, it’s impossible to win,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Neymar declined to give clues about his future amid recent speculation he may seek a move back to Brazil or Major League Soccer. Neymar has struggled with injuries in Saudi Arabia and played only a handful of games in 16 months.

Neymar said although he remained happy in Saudi Arabia, “in six months, everything can change.”

Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano expects to bring in several new faces to support Lionel Messi in Major League Soccer next season but says it is “impossible to think about” Brazilian Neymar being one of them. Rumours linking Neymar with a move to Miami to recreate the old ‘MSN’ Barcelona front line with Messi and Luis Suarez have resurfaced in recent days. The Brazilian, who is currently under contract to Saudi club Al-Hilal, addressed the talk in an interview.

“Obviously, playing again with Messi and Suarez would be incredible. They are my friends, we still speak to each other,”  Neymar said, according to CNN. 

“It would be interesting to revive this trio. I’m happy at Al-Hilal, I’m happy in Saudi Arabia, but who knows. Football is full of surprises,”

But MLS’s salary and squad rules mean that Miami is not currently in the position to add Neymar on a ‘Designated Player’ contract similar to Messi’s deal.

Mascherano said that the realities of the club’s squad situation meant that there was currently no possibility to bring in the 32-year-old.

“Obviously, Ney is a great player. Every team in the world wants him. But, at this moment, you know the MLS salary rules. So, for us, it’s impossible to think about him right now,” said Argentine Mascherano, who played on the same Barca team as the trio.

Mascherano was speaking at an MLS media event in Miami where Suarez was also asked about the potential arrival of his old teammate.

“Well, obviously everyone knows what Neymar is as a player, what we generated when we were together. Today we are in a different era, much older than we were at the time, but you are always excited to have a player like him and for the quality he can bring to the team,” said the Uruguayan.

“Afterwards, as he said and as everyone will say, anything can happen in football, but, well, they are expectations and hopes… but it is difficult and very complicated to make them come true.”

While Miami would have to offload some players to open up a spot for Neymar on a high-paying contract, Mascherano has more modest goals.

Miami, which suffered a shock exit at the hands of Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs after dominating the regular season, has sold several defenders since Argentine Mascherano took over from compatriot Gerardo Martino in late November.

Asked whether he was looking to bring in reinforcements to the back line, Mascherano said: “We are working on that, we are working on that.

“We have had several departures due to loans that have ended, due to some sales, due to people that we have not been able to renew and we are trying to finalise some additions,” he said.

“I have faith and I’m almost certain that in the next few days some of the reinforcements we have asked for will be finalised and from there we can start to shape the squad to be able to start the pre-season.”

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will kick off FIFA’s new 32-team Club World Cup when the Major League Soccer side take on Egypt’s Al Ahly in the June 15 opener, the draw for the tournament revealed on Thursday. Brazilian team Palmeiras and Portugal’s Porto complete Group A alongside Argentina World Cup winner Messi, whose Miami team were handed a spot by FIFA after finishing top of the regular season standings in MLS. Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate, Brazilian Neymar, will have a reunion with La Liga rivals and European champions Real Madrid in Group H.

Twelve European clubs will feature in the tournament with Manchester City facing Juventus in Group G of a tournament which FIFA president Gianni Infantino said would “start a new era in club football”.

Paris Saint-Germain were drawn in a tough group with Atletico Madrid, Copa Libertadores winners Botafogo of Brazil and Seattle Sounders.

FIFA has had to deal with some scepticism over the need for the tournament and the chances of it capturing the imagination of fans but there was plenty of support for the competition among those at the draw.

Club officials and former players gathered for Thursday’s draw and US President-elect Donald Trump sent his best wishes in a video message before the ceremony, which took place during a 90-minute live broadcast from a television studio in Miami.

“The event is going to be incredible,” said Trump in his message where he praised Infantino as a “winner”.

“We’ve known each other a long time and I’m so honoured to have this kind of relationship because soccer is going through the roof as everyone knows,” he added.

The USA will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada.

Clubs supportive

Trump’s daughter Ivanka took part in the draw which was presented by former Juventus and Italy forward Alessandro Del Piero and featured celebrities such as model Adriana Lima.

The final of the tournament will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 13.

FIFA had struggled to find sponsors and broadcasters for the new tournament but on Wednesday announced a global deal with streaming company DAZN, who will show the games for free.

The world governing body has faced opposition from some in the game over the new tournament.

FIFpro and the European Leagues body filed a joint complaint to the European Commission against FIFA over the introduction of the tournament into the international match calendar.

Opponents of the new tournament have said it adds further congestion to an already crowded schedule and increases the workload of players.

But there was little but backing for the competition from the clubs and leagues who will be represented next year.

“We are very supportive of this tournament, We are excited,” said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who is also chairman of the European Clubs Association.

Al-Khelaifi said the tournament was a better way for clubs to perform in the USA than in pre-season friendly tours and would help PSG to spread their brand.

There was also support from Don Garber, commissioner of Major League Soccer and vice-chair of the World Leagues Association.

“The tournament took time to generate all the interest that you are seeing here today,” said the American.

“Good things come to those that sort of put in the work and FIFA put in the work and we’re going to have lots of our stadiums involved, 

“There are 100 million fans who follow what we call league (club) soccer and they’re going to be interested to see MLS teams and Mexican teams and see teams from all Europe, South America and the rest of the world, so I’m excited about it, I really am,” added Garber.

Vinicius Junior during Brazil 0-0 Costa Rica in Copa America 2024.© AFP

File photo of Brazilian footballer Neymar© AFP