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Gab & Juls discuss Kylian Mbappe’s response to Neymar’s claim of him being jealous towards Lionel Messi. (2:27)
Neymar has agreed to return to Santos nearly 12 years after leaving the Brazilian team, club president Marcelo Teixeira said on Tuesday.
The Brazil striker confirmed earlier that his contract with Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal had been terminated by mutual consent. He had an injury-marred spell at Al-Hilal, where he played only seven matches and scored once.
Neymar won six titles with his boyhood club Santos, including a Copa Libertadores trophy in 2011. Santos is a beachfront city outside São Paulo.
“It’s time (to return), Neymar. Es time for you to return to your people. In our home, the club in our hearts,” Teixeira said on his social networks. “Welcome, our boy Ney! A child from Vila (Belmiro, Santos’ stadium). Return to be satisfied with the black and white shirt. The country of Santos is waiting for you with open arms. “
Neymar, once acclaimed as one of the world’s players, has spent much of his time in Saudi Arabia on the sidelines due to a LCA injury that chose to play for Brazil in October 2023.
São Paulo media reported that the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star is expected to return to Brazil this week and reintroduce himself to Santos fans within days.
Neymar has become the beloved player in the history of football when he transferred from Barcelona to the PSG for 222 million euros (then 262 million dollars) in 2017.
Neymar’s spokeswoman, Day Franco, told The Associated Press the player had no immediate comment.
However, Neymar responded with a GIF from the center to a position by Kely Nascimento, one of the women of Pelé’s three-time World Cup winner, celebrating his return to Santos.
“(My father) must be taking bicycle kicks in heaven after finding out that our boy is coming back home,” Nascimento said on Instagram. Pelé died in December 2022.
A video via Al-Hilal on Tuesday night shows Neymar giving a farewell speech.
“Today I am very happy to be able to go, return home. To my country,” Neymar told his former teammates, without mentioning Santos. “It was a pleasure for me to play for this club. It was a short time, things were not as I expected. I could not help you on the pitch as I wanted.”
Santos was relegated to Brazil’s second division in 2023 and was promoted again in the latest season.
Neymar’s last game was played in November. Al-Hilal coach Jorge Jesus had continuously cast doubt on the striker’s form to play.
Neymar left the Saudi Arabian league after playing just seven games in 17 months following his big-money move to the oil-rich kingdom.
Al-Hilal said on Monday it had reached an agreement with Neymar to terminate his contract through mutual consent.
“I gave everything to play and wish we would have enjoyed better moments in the field,” Neymar said in a publication on social networks. In Arabia, thanks for giving me and my family circle a new house and new experiences. Now I know the real Saudi and I have friends for a lifetime. “
Despite Neymar’s injury, Al-Hilal were still in control to win last season’s Saudi League. The Brazilian contract is set to expire after this year’s FIFA Club World Cup, which will be played between June 15 and 13 in the United States.
The striker joined Saudi club PSG in August 2023 for $90 million ($94 million). His salary would also have been one of the largest in global football.
But Neymar resumed his ACL injury game for Brazil a few months after joining Al-Hilal.
Neymar returned in October but said in different interviews there were doubts over whether he would stay for the rest of the season.
Santos’ fans were already waiting for Neymar’s return. Since last week, they published a video of a boy voiced by the mythical World Cup winner Pelé, who died in 2022 at the age of 82, asking Neymar to come back and wear his historic No. 10 blouse.
In June, during a visit to one of his social projects in Brazil, the striker denied he was eyeing a return to the club, calling the idea “a total lie, there’s no plans. I have another year in my contract with Al-Hilal. I hope to play a great season there. … Obviously Santos is the club in my heart, one day I do want to come back. But there’s no plan in my head.”
In early January, Neymar made headlines about former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, who is now at Real Madrid.
Speaking in a podcast organized through the winner of the Romário World Cup, Neymar said that the Frenchman had “a little jealous” after the superstar Lionel Messi joined the French club in August 2021. He also added that the great ego It affected the functionality of the PSG in primary. Parties
Neymar, Brazil’s most level-headed scorer of all time with 79 goals in 125 games, also said he is focused on playing time so he can prepare for the World Cup in North America next year in what may be his final shot to win the tournament.