{"id":51417,"date":"2026-07-18T07:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=51417"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:43:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T01:58:54","slug":"neymar-returns-to-santos-with-questions-hanging-over-his-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/neymar-returns-to-santos-with-questions-hanging-over-his-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Neymar returns to Santos with questions hanging over his future"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

SAO PAULO, July 18 :<\/strong> Neymar returns to his home club Santos Friday with only a few months left in his contract and questions over his future after indicating he would no longer play for Brazil following the country’s World Cup disappointment.<\/p>\n

The injury-plagued Neymar was included in the World Cup squad almost three years after he last appeared for Brazil, and played only 37 minutes across two matches.<\/p>\n

His only goal — a penalty — was not enough to prevent an early exit for Brazil after a 2-1 defeat to Norway in the Round of 16.<\/p>\n

An AI-generated video created by a fan circulated on social media, showed a young Neymar asking the current Neymar to chase a sixth World Cup title with Brazil in 2030.<\/p>\n

Brazil’s all-time leading scorer added a comment: three laughing\/crying emojis.<\/p>\n

The striker returned in January 2025 to his boyhood club Santos from Saudi club Al-Hilal, and his contract runs out in December.<\/p>\n

After undergoing left-knee surgery late last year, Neymar played in only eight of the 19 matches Santos contested in the 2026 Brasileirao — the country’s top football league.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, he tallied four goals and two assists, offering glimpses of the footballer who dazzled fans at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n

A source at Santos told AFP that the renewal of Neymar’s contract will largely depend on board elections in December.<\/p>\n

Santos president Marcelo Teixeira, who spearheaded Neymar’s return, has not said whether he will seek re-election.<\/p>\n

“The first question was whether Neymar would stop playing,” a club official told AFP on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

“It ends here,” Neymar said after Brazil’s loss to Norway, which saw him collapse in tears after the final whistle.<\/p>\n

Amid press speculation about a permanent retirement, his father and agent Neymar Santos Sr urged him not to give up.<\/p>\n

“Son, keep playing football. Feel the joy of having the ball at your feet again; smile on the pitch again,” he wrote in a letter released via an Instagram video.<\/p>\n

“Don’t be afraid of tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

Media reports have indicated that Neymar is considering continuing his career with US Major League Soccer (MLS), and that negotiations had taken place with FC Cincinnati, but fell through.<\/p>\n

The MLS is home to veteran stars such as Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Frenchman Antoine Griezmann (Orlando City), and German Thomas Mueller (Vancouver Whitecaps).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAO PAULO, July 18 : Neymar returns to his home club Santos Friday with only a few months left in his contract and questions over his future after indicating he would no longer play for Brazil following the country’s World Cup disappointment. The injury-plagued Neymar was included in the World Cup squad almost three years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51417"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51422,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51417\/revisions\/51422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}