MLS still blocks Neymar’s arrival at Inter Miami

The future of Neymar still unleashes so much passion. After leaving PSG for 90 million in the summer of 2023, the Brazilian star decided to accept the XXL offer from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. But since his signing in the Saudi Pro League, his career has turned into a fiasco with numerous injuries and more than a year and a half without playing or almost. Injured with his selection in October 2023, he spent his year 2024 away from the field with only 2 matches played (42 minutes in total) before relapsing at the end of the year 2024.

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However, this did not prevent him from being paid very dearly by Al-Hilal despite his non-existent sporting contribution. Neymar received 101 million euros for the year 2024, which places him in 3rd position in the ranking of the 10 highest paid footballers in the world for the year. And if we compare this salary to his number of minutes played, he received around 2.4 million euros per minute played. A financial pit for Al-Hilal who now wants to put an end to this fiasco. At the end of his contract this summer, the Brazilian will probably not extend and will therefore leave Saudi Arabia without ever having shone. It remains to be seen where it will bounce. The exit doors available to him are not numerous.

MLS blocks possible arrival

While he has clearly announced his intention to play in the 2026 World Cup, the former PSG player is mentioned in two clubs in particular: Santos and Inter Miami. The Brazilian club, his training club, could be an interesting homecoming for him. But the most credible track is the one leading to Inter Miami, an MLS club where he would find his friends Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and even Javier Mascherano, coach there. But it is financially that this risks getting stuck while the MLS imposes quite strict regulations. In the past, David Beckham’s club had made a few rants to change this rule, notably with former coach Tata Martino.

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“What I can’t imagine is that if the League does not make the salary issue more flexible, how will Neymar’s arrival be implemented? Because writing it or saying it in the media is good but nothing happens, it has no consequences. The reality is that the reason the MLS has this problem is that the rules are strict and cannot be broken unless the MLS decides to change them.”he criticized. This time, it’s Javier Mascherano’s turn to talk about Neymar. The Argentine coach confided that MLS was preventing the club from dreaming bigger by bringing back the Brazilian. “I can’t talk about Ney because we have nothing. Obviously he’s a great player and every coach in the world would love to have him, but at the moment we know the MLS salary cap rules and at this point, for us, it’s unfortunately impossible to have it”he explained. ESPN also announces that Inter Miami is pushing behind the scenes for MLS to finally change its salary cap rules to attract stars and develop American football. But it seems very complicated at the moment.