‘Some players couldn’t stand him anymore’: Neymar’s sad ending at PSG

Former Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar (32) left the club acrimoniously last summer after a somewhat underwhelming six years in the French capital, joining Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Hilal in a reported 90M€ deal.

Despite impressive stats on paper (118 goals and 77 assists in 173 appearances), the Brazilian’s time at the Parc des Princes was marred by persistent injuries, indifferent form in clutch games such as the latter stages of the Champions League, with the exception of the 2019/2020 in which the team made the final under Thomas Tuchel, and what L’Équipe has confirmed to be an increasingly bad attitude as his time with a club drew to a close. 

In the report by France Football, it is revealed that the emergence of Kylian Mbappé as the face of the club was met with hostility by Neymar, subsequently causing their relationship to deteriorate. An unnamed PSG staff member lifted the lid on the situation: 

” At the start, Mbappé liked him, but lost respect for him having spent time alongside him on a daily basis. On the other side of things, Neymar and Lionel Messi were annoyed that Kylian had become the symbol of the club.

Messi, even if he was introverted, always said hello. Not Neymar. He gave you the impression that he didn’t respect you. He refused contact. It’s a shame, because in private he is apparently a nice and generous guy. I never found him to be pleasant or generous. Even if he understood French, he never made an effort to speak it. 

Indeed, after two or three good seasons, “Ney” gave me the impression that he was completely fed up. Fed up with football, fed up with money… He wasn’t hungry anymore. He still had motivation to play for the national team, but not to go and play in Brest.”

As well as the decline in