SAO PAULO – Neymar will come to South America for World Cup qualifying matches despite a groin injury he picked up in a Champions League match for Paris Saint-Germain. Brazil coach Tite called Flamengo striker Pedro for the matches against Venezuela and Uruguay on Nov. 13 and 17, without removing Neymar from the squad. “We will follow his development closely.”PSG coach Thomas Tuchel said last week it would be “impossible” for Neymar to play for Brazil as he recovered from the injury. Brazil has already lost four players for the two clashes, including three due to injury — midfielders Philippe Coutinho and Fabinho, and defender Rodrigo Caio. Brazil and Argentina lead the South American qualifying group with two wins from two matches.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi leaves the pitch after the the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Barcelona and Bayern Munich in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday, Aug. 14, 2020. The Spanish league is about to see another top player leave one of its clubs, all within a four-year span. The league wasnt hugely affected financially after Neymar left Barcelona or Ronaldo left Real Madrid. The league still benefited from Messis presence after Ronaldo left, but now it wouldn't have that same star power anymore. Since Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, Spain gained few top-notch players.
(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)BARCELONA A Spanish court has ruled in favor of Barcelona in a dispute with former player Neymar over a signing bonus paid in part to the Brazil striker before he left for Paris Saint-Germain. The court on Friday rejected Neymars suit that Barcelona owed him 43 million euros ($48 million) from part of a signing bonus that it never paid the player. The court ruled instead that Neymar must pay Barcelona 6.7 million euros ($7.5 million), corresponding to part of the signing bonus it had already paid to the player. Barcelona and then player Neymar agreed to a new contact in 2016, which included a signing bonus of 64 million euros. The club paid the player 22.5 million euros in July 2016 and was supposed to pay him the remaining 43 million euros by July 2017.
Neymar celebrates after scoring Brazil's second goal during their 2018 FIFA World Cup Group E win over Costa Rica at Saint Petersburg Stadium on June 22 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (CNN) - After a tumultuous offseason, Brazilian superstar Neymar made his season debut with Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday. He was met by raucous booing from the home fans in Paris before scoring a stunning, winning goal. The 27-year-old Brazilian had not played in any of PSG's first four regular season matches as a transfer saga involving his old club Barcelona played out. In the 2018-19 season, PSG won the French Ligue 1 title for the second year in a row, but injuries once again plagued Neymar's campaign.
The problem for a number of big name soccer stars is that there's seemingly nowhere for them to go. "Clearly, this counts against the likes of Neymar and Bale, as clubs simply don't have the resources to support their acquisition. Chadwick believes the reluctance to purchase older big name players is a sign of what he terms "economic realism." Speaking last month, PSG's director of football Leonardo told Le Parisien that the player was free to leave the club. I like Phil, I think he's a fantastic footballer and all that stuff, but it would be a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big-money signing and it's not our year for that."
CNN image(CNN) - Luis Suarez's penalty shootout miss at the Copa America might have pleased some onlookers who recalled his controversial past, but Neymar consoled his former -- and perhaps -- future Barcelona teammate. They terrorized La Liga defenses and won the Champions League together in 2015. Uruguay won on penalties. But while free-spending PSG is unstoppable in the French division, the much-desired Champions League crown is still missing. And various reports suggest Barcelona -- facing a Champions League slump of its own -- could once again land him in a possible swap deal.
