RIYADH:
Neymar remains out of knee surgery and will miss Saudi Arabia Pro League champions Al-Hilal’s training camp, coach Jorge Jesus said on Tuesday.
“All I know now is that the time given to Neymar to recover from similar injuries is around 10 to 11 months.
“If we calculate mathematically, he won’t be ready at the start of pre-season,” Jesus told reporters in Riyadh.
Neymar underwent surgery in his native Brazil last November to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus damage suffered during a national team match the previous month.
The 32-year-old collapsed on a stretcher in tears during Brazil’s 2-0 defeat by Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier on October 17 after colliding with opposing midfielder Nicolas de la Cruz.
While he may have been absent from the pitch, Neymar has been busy off it recently.
He was ringside to see Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury to win the world’s first undisputed heavyweight championship in 25 years in Riyadh on Sunday.
Last month a Brazilian court suspended a $3 million fine imposed on the player for building a pond at his mansion on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro without an environmental permit.
In March he threw a ceremonial first pitch before the Marlins’ MLB opener in Miami against the Pittsburgh Pirates and was on the grid before the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir that kicked off the Formula 1 season.
In January, the French Ministry of Finance and Economy was investigated as part of an investigation into the Brazilian soccer superstar’s 2017 transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.
Anti-corruption officers carried out the investigations amid suspicions that PSG may have received favorable tax treatment as part of the transfer.
Neymar joined Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona in 2017 for a world-record 222 million euros ($242 million), scoring 118 goals in 173 games despite a string of injuries.
The injury-prone player left the French club for Al-Hilal in 2023, the latest world-class footballer to be snapped up by the big-spending Saudi Pro League.
He earns €100m a season in Saudi Arabia, according to a source close to the negotiations, while PSG put €100m into the deal.
This month he was omitted from Brazil’s Copa America squad by national coach Dorival Junior.
His Saudi club coach Jesus admitted his absence was an issue but added on Tuesday that “the solution was Malcolm” referring to the Brazilian winger who scored 22 goals in 46 games.
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