For the fourth time in a row, Neymar suffered an injury in February, in addition to the 10 suffered since arriving at PSG in 2017
A few hours after it was known that Neymar would be out of action for a month due to the tenth injury since arriving at Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, the club began to show dissatisfaction with the way of life of the Brazilian. star for which he paid 222 million euros.
The last injury, in the left adductor, occurred last Wednesday in a cup game against Caen, second division, just three days after he missed the “classic” of French football against Olympique de Marseille due to gastroenteritis after celebrating 29 years.
The player left the field of play last Wednesday after receiving a harsh attack, but the injury is muscular and does not seem to be directly related to the blow received, according to the specialists quoted by the French press.
Sports Journal “Team“It is revealed today that several members of the club estimate that the player ‘s repeated injuries, who missed 64 of the almost 170 games he could have played in three and a half seasons, are dissatisfied with the player’ s off – field behavior.
Lack of sleep, inadequate diet and poor hydration, they believe, are not in line with what a high-level athlete needs, At the same time, he compares his lifestyle with that of other celebrities, such as the Argentine Lionel Messi and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo.
Injuries are common at this time of season and especially of the adductor muscles. It is the second time he has suffered in a few months, after losing four games in October last year due to the same problem.
His birthday celebrations have already become an event and the footballer himself confessed a few days ago that the party is part of his life.
“Who doesn’t like to party? (…) If I focus one hundred percent on football, I will end up exploding. The party is an opportunity to relax, to enjoy. It’s something I will never give up.” he said on TF1 television in late January.
For the physiologist Jean-Bernard Fabre, the relationship between the player’s lifestyle and his repeated injuries is obvious. “When it happens to you once, you might think it’s bad luck, but it happens every year,” he told Le Parisien.
The specialist considers that last weekend’s gastroenteritis may be related to the celebration of his birthday: “He may have drunk some alcohol and that lack of sleep can affect his muscular motor and tendons. Consequently, conditions favor this kind of thing. “
Fabre also believes that, over time, fragility will increase: “The period in which it is ‘indestructible’ has already passed. With age you pay for all the gaps in preparation and recovery. There comes a day when your way of life comes to serious for you “.
The new injury and the doubts he generated in the club appear when the negotiations for the extension of his contract, which ends in June 2022, seemed on the right track.
The debate on his way of life is superimposed on the one opened by the footballer himself this Thursday, as soon as the extent of his injury was known, when he considered himself the victim of the harshness of French football.
“Sometimes I feel uncomfortable because of my style of play, because I dribble and get constantly beaten. I don’t know if I’m the problem or what I’m doing on the field,” he said on Instagram.
Immediately after the game in which he was injured, Caen’s coach, Pascal Dupraz, accused him of provoking rivals and pretending a lot on the field: “I’m not going to cry, I’m leaving Neymar”.
The Brazilian star’s father replied harshly: “Of course you have to cry, because there are coaches like you, referees of this level, careless and silent leagues”.
In the midst of this noise, PSG will play against Camp Nou on Tuesday without the most decisive player in recent months, which already seems a habit.
Since his arrival in Paris, he has played only three knockout matches in the Champions League out of six possible. Last season against Borussia Dortmund was the only time they both played and also the only time PSG managed to get through that round, thanks in large part to the Brazilian.
Against Barcelona, the first leg will certainly be lost and there will be a serious doubt for the return, scheduled for March 10. Neymar will rest for two weeks before starting to move in the third and, if all goes well, he will return to the group in the fourth.
At best, he could return for the return match against Barça, but without a competitive rhythm, which forces PSG to face equality without relying much on his star, as he already did in 2018 against Real Madrid and in 2019 against Manchester United.
On those two occasions, the fault was the fifth metatarsal, a fortuitous injury, unrelated to his lifestyle. But now, in Paris, doubts are beginning to emerge.