The Football Faithful
·11 November 2024
In partnership with
Yahoo sportsThe Football Faithful
·11 November 2024
Santos director Marcio Calves has opened up on Neymar’s potential return to the club and says there is confidence a deal can be done.
Neymar’s lucrative contract at Al-Hilal is set to expire in June and the forward will become a free agent if an extension is not agreed.
The 32-year-old’s time in Saudi Arabia has been a disappointment with Neymar having sustained an ACL injury just five games into his career with the club, following a €90m transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.
He has been sidelined again with a hamstring issue this season and Brazilian outlet UOL has claimed “Al-Hilal are already discussing behind the scenes the possibility of negotiating Neymar’s departure in January 2025.”
Santos was monitoring his situation ahead of an ambitious move to bring Neymar back to the club. Director Calves has called the potential return of Brazil’s record scorer ‘every fan’s dream’ and said he was ‘60%’ confident the move would happen despite no ‘official negotiations’ at this stage.
Neymar came through the ranks at Santos and made his debut for the club at 17. He scored 136 goals in 225 appearances across all competitions and won the 2011 Copa Libertadores before his transfer to Barcelona in 2013.
He won two La Liga titles and the Champions League with the Spanish side. Paris Saint-Germain broke the world transfer record to sign Neymar in a £198m deal in 2017 and he scored 118 goals in 173 games for the French side.
Despite the success of five Ligue 1 titles with PSG, his time at the Parc des Princes was punctuated by the injury problems that have hindered his latter career. He has made just seven appearances for Al-Hilal since his move to the club in 2023.
Langsung