Injured again with Al-Hilal, this time with his hamstrings, Neymar will be sidelined for four to six weeks, according to his club. Which could prevent him from playing again before 2025, and perhaps from playing again at all with the Saudi team.
An endless tunnel. Having just returned to the field after a serious knee injury which prevented him from playing for a year, Neymar is already back in the infirmary. Monday evening, for his second appearance of the season with Al-Hilal, in the Asian Champions League, the Brazilian had to leave his partners less than thirty minutes after coming into play, holding his right thigh. And the diagnosis, announced this Wednesday by the Saudi club, is not really reassuring.
“Exams revealed that Neymar Jr. is suffering from a torn hamstring,” writes Al-Hilal. And added: “He will follow a treatment protocol which will last four to six weeks.”
Did he play his last match with Al-Hilal?
In other words: Neymar should not play again before December, or even before 2025 given that Al-Hilal currently has no matches scheduled in 2024 after December 7. The question that arises is even whether the former PSG player did not make his last appearance with the current leader of the Saudi Pro League on Monday.
According to the Brazilian media UOL, Al-Hilal would in fact consider terminating the contract of its star in January, no longer having confidence in his ability to string together matches (7 appearances since his signing in August 2023) and having already reached the limit foreign players authorized to play in the championship.
Coach Jorge Jesus, questioned on the subject of “Ney” at the start of the week, was not very enthusiastic about it. “Medically, his knee is healed, but afterwards he will have problems like today, muscular problems because he has not played for a long time,” said the technician. “And the pace of the team is very strong.” Perhaps too much for a player who, since 2018, has displayed an impressive collection of physical glitches.
