Why Neymar isn't playing in Inter Miami vs Al Hilal
During Neymar's first season at Barcelona in 2013, as the 21-year-old struggled to adapt to a new league, country and language, he fell into the warm embrace of Lionel Messi.
«The best person in the world came to me,» Neymar remembered years later, «held my hand and spoke to me.» Neymar was so taken aback by Messi's cajoling tone — imploring the Brazilian to «be the same boy you were at Santos» and «don't be scared of me or anyone else in the team» — that he burst into tears. «Suddenly I became calm. At last. It was the start of a warm friendship.»
The pair were reunited at Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 and after some fleeting flashes of brilliance, both left the French capital last summer. While Messi turned down the riches offered to him by the Saudi Pro League (he already has a lucrative sponsorship agreement with the country's tourism board) to join Inter Miami, Neymar couldn't pull away from the golden handshake.
Messi's Miami travel to the home of Al Hilal, the Saudi giants that coughed up a staggering £86m for Neymar in August, as part of their pre-season tour on Monday, but there will be no on-pitch reunion for the firm friends.
Neymar arrived at Al Hilal off the pace physically. The 31-year-old sat out the final four months of the 2022/23 season with PSG after suffering yet another ankle injury which required surgery.
Al Hilal head coach Jorge Jesus questioned how the Brazilian FA could call Neymar up for the September internationals when he had not been fit enough to make his debut in Saudi. Yet, Neymar duly lined up for his country and broke Pele's long-standing national men's scoring record.
The Brazilian trickster only mustered five appearances for Al Hilal before he was back on international duty in October.
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