20 December 2023 , 11:01
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Neymar is expected to be sidelined until the start of next season, with the rehabilitation from his serious knee injury a slow process.
Neymar was stretchered off the pitch during Brazil’s 2-0 defeat by Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier on October 18 and subsequently underwent surgery on a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in November. The 31-year-old has started rehabilitation, but he is unlikely to be available for the 2024 Copa America, which starts on June 20.
Brazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar has sounded a word of caution, explaining how delicate the recovery process is for the former Paris Saint-Germain star. “It's too early. There's no point in skipping steps to recover sooner and taking unnecessary risks,” he told Rede 98. “Our expectation is that he will be prepared to return at the start of the 2024 season in Europe, which is August.
"We need to be patient. Talking about a return before nine months is premature, this is a global concept for knee ligament surgeries recovery. It is very important to respect the biological time, the time the body takes to reconstruct that ligament. If we follow those steps and after a long recovery, the expectation is that he can perform again at a high level."
Neymar’s absence will come as a blow to Brazil. He is their all-time leading scorer with 79 goals from 128 appearances and the team has struggled of late, losing their last three World Cup qualifiers to Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina.
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Brazil will face Colombia, Paraguay, and either Costa Rica and Honduras in Group D of the Copa America. Having lost the 2021 final to Argentina, they will look to the likes of Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Gabriel Jesus, Lucas Paqueta, Gabriel Martinelli and Richarlison for goals.
Neymar’s injury is also a major blow for his club side Al-Hilal, who shelled out £77million to sign him from PSG in August. He is earning around £2.5m per week with the Saudi Arabian side, who have only received one goal and three assists in five games for their money so far.
Neymar will miss the rest of the Saudi Pro League season (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Neymar isn’t the only big-money player at Al-Hilal, who also spent more than £60m on Ruben Neves and Kalidou Koulibaly from the Premier League and also signed Brazilian star Malcom for over £50m and landed Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Al-Hilal, who are managed by Jorge Jesus, are currently unbeaten at the top of the Saudi Pro League, having won 15 of their 17 matches. Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored 15 goals since joining from Fulham for £46m in the summer transfer window and is the league’s second highest scorer, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo of Al-Nassr.