While Kylian Mbappé continued another match without scoring with Real Madrid, Neymar was injured again with Al Hilal and could soon see his lucrative Saudi contract be terminated.
Post-PSG is complicated for Kylian Mbappé and Neymar, two of the biggest stars in the recent history of the Parisian club. The first joined Real Madrid on a free basis this summer and after getting off to a good start statistically to his Madrid adventure, he was caught up in a big extra-sporting controversy during the last international break and has been playing a series of unremarkable matches ever since.
With just one goal in his last six appearances, Mbappé struggles to find his footing on the pitch and Real Madrid have never looked more disorganized and inconsistent than since he was here. Humiliated 4-0 by Barça ten days ago, with 8 offsides from Mbappé, Real Madrid fell on Tuesday evening at home against AC Milan of Mike Maignan and Théo Hernandez (1-3). Mbappé did not score and barely existed, once again.
Mbappé still disappointing against Milan
This Wednesday morning, the top scorer in the history of PSG takes his place and appears in particular on the front page of the Madrid daily AS, which headlines: “The nightmare continues”. The Spanish press criticizes Mbappé this morning for not being effective enough in front of goal and especially for not defending enough, which should undoubtedly make Luis Enrique smile.
On the set of CBS Sports, the American channel for which he is a consultant, Thierry Henry also deciphered Kylian Mbappé's performance as number nine against Milan and pointed out his lack of in-depth appeal. “Look at your number 9!” It's Bellingham who makes the runs towards goal, not your number 9. I know it's not what he likes to do, but he has to understand that desire and will count.”declared the former Arsenal striker.
But Mbappé is not the only former PSG star to experience major difficulties away from Paris. Transferred in the summer of 2023 to Saudi Arabia for €90 million, Neymar only played five matches with Al-Hilal before crossing his left knee with Brazil in October 2023. A year later, Neymar returned to the pitch on October 21 against Al-Ain in the Asian Champions League.
Al Hilal plans to terminate the contract of Neymar, still injured
For his second appearance of the season on Monday, against Esteghlal FC, Neymar injured his right thigh and had to leave the field only 29 minutes of play after his entry. A relatively trivial muscle injury after such a long absence, but which should still keep him away from the field for three weeks according to Brazilian media UOL.
This same source also announced this Wednesday that Al Hilal is seriously considering terminating Neymar's contract next January, six days before the end of the Saudi championship for which he was not registered in the first part of the season. The Brazilian is under contract until June 2025, with an additional year optional, and the Saudi club would like to limit the damage by parting with his XXL salary, estimated at €160 million per year.
Al Hilal's idea would therefore be to find an amicable agreement with Neymar this winter so that the latter can then decide to freely join another club. Santos, where he was trained and where he dreams of playing again one day, is a possibility mentioned in recent weeks in the press, as is the Inter Miami of his friends Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. At 32, high-level football seems a long way away for Neymar…
