The Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) Brazilian forward Neymar has promised to come back stronger after undergoing surgery on his ankle.
Neymar suffered an ankle injury during a match against Lille in Ligue 1 on February 19, and the club’s medical staff recommended a ligament repair operation to avoid a recurrence of the issue.
Despite this setback, Neymar tweeted that he will not be discouraged and will come back stronger.
The operation will take place in Doha over the next few days, and PSG said it would take three to four months for Neymar to recover and return to training with the team.
The injury recovery timeline means that Neymar is unlikely to play again this season, with the Ligue 1 season set to end on June 3 and the Champions League final scheduled for a week later in Istanbul. PSG will take on Bayern Munich in Germany on Wednesday in the last 16 of the Champions League.
In 2014, during the World Cup quarterfinals against Colombia, Neymar suffered a devastating broken vertebra that forced him to miss the semifinals, in which Brazil lost 7-1. This injury was a significant blow to the team’s morale, and they were unable to recover without their star player.
Neymar has been in fine form this season, scoring 18 goals in all competitions for PSG, but he has struggled with injury issues, including the same ankle injury during the World Cup in Qatar.
Neymar’s absence will be a concern for PSG, as he has missed more than 100 games due to injury or suspension since joining the club in 2017 for a world-record fee of 222 million euros ($264m).
During his first season at PSG, Neymar suffered a fractured metatarsal which caused him to miss the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Real Madrid. The following year, he missed the last-16 tie against Manchester United due to another metatarsal injury.
Despite scoring 118 goals in 173 games for the club, Neymar has only played in 49 percent of their Ligue 1 matches since joining.
