Neymar is no longer one controversial statement away. The Brazilian spoke to his compatriot, the former player Romario, for the first of the Romario TV. He notably returned to his adventure at Paris Saint-Germain, where he rubbed shoulders with Kylian Mbappé.
“He’s not boring,” Neymar said of him. I had little arguments with him, but he was fundamental for us when he arrived at the club. At the beginning, I called him Golden Boy, I spoke with him, I told him that he was going to become one of the best players in the world, I helped him, he came to eat at my house.
And then, Lionel Messi arrived at the club, in the summer of 2021. “After the arrival of Messi, he (Mbappé) became a little jealous,” says Neymar. There was some confusion, a change in behavior.”
The player from Al-Hilal, in Saudi Arabia, also recounted his relationship with the Argentine world champion, by whom he was welcomed to Barça in 2013, then aged 21.
-“When I arrived at Barça, I didn’t feel confident enough to play there,” he recalls. For six months, I couldn’t dribble past anyone. One day I started crying at half-time of a match against Athletic Bilbao. Messi asked me why I was crying. He said he was there to help me and that I should play the Football I played at Santos, without pressure. He said I could count on him. And then I had more confidence, more enthusiasm, and things started to work.”
Neymar also says he chose to leave Barcelona for PSG in 2017, for financial reasons, but also because several of his Brazilian friends (Marquinhos, Dani Alves, Lucas Moura and Thiago Silva) played there.
