Seriously injured during the match between Brazil and Uruguay last October, Neymar is receiving treatment and hopes to return to the field as quickly as possible. But the Al-Hilal star learned some bad news.
Life without Neymar . Since October 17, Al-Hilal has had to do without its superstar. Bought for 80 million euros from Paris Saint-Germain, not counting the bonuses and various advantages offered to the player, Ney ultimately does not miss the Saudi club that much on the pitch. In his absence, his club won 12 out of 12 matches. Undefeated, Al-Hilal is in full swing. But the SPL team would still have liked to benefit a little more from the Brazilian international, who only played 5 matches in total.
A serious injury
But he was seriously injured during the match between Uruguay and Brazil in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers a little over two months ago in Montevideo. That day, the Seleção lost the match 2 to 0 and its famous number 10 for several months. Indeed, following contact with De la Cruz, the 31-year-old footballer fell badly and twisted his left knee. Quickly, the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation, editor’s note) spoke of a “ worrying injury ”. After several examinations, the verdict came on October 18. The Brazilian federation announced the bad news, without necessarily specifying the duration of his absence.
“Striker Neymar Jr. of the Brazilian national team and the Saudi team Al-Hilal underwent clinical and imaging examinations on Wednesday (18), which confirmed the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus of the left knee. On Tuesday evening (17), Neymar suffered a knee sprain during the Brazilian national team's 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay in Montevideo. The attacker will have surgery, on a date which has not yet been set, to correct the injuries. The medical department of the Brazilian national team, under the supervision of Dr. Rodrigo Lasmar, and Al Hilal are in constant contact and alignment on the player's recovery.
No Copa América for Ney
Obviously affected, the 31-year-old is currently receiving treatment. At the beginning of November, the Brazilian doctor gave his news. “Neymar is recovering very well. Yesterday I was with the player and we did a new post-operative evaluation which was already planned. He is recovering very well, of course, it is still at an early stage. He had a serious and complex knee injury, he tore a ligament. He had a meniscus injury that had to be sutured. He therefore has to not walk for a while, due to the ligament damage he suffered and the meniscus sutures. He must go through a slow and long recovery process, he is aware of it. But so far he is responding very well. We are very pleased with his recovery.” Concerning the duration of his absence, some Saudi media spoke of 9 months of absence. In Brazil, we were leaning towards a whole year.
This Wednesday, Rodrigo Lasmar put everyone in agreement at the microphone of Radio 98FM . His comments are relayed by AS . “Six weeks after the operation, we don't have time. It's too early, there's no point in rushing back early and taking unnecessary risks. We hope that he will be ready to play again at the start of the 2024 season in Europe, that is to say in August (…) We expect him to play again, we have to be patient. Talking about a return before nine months is premature. This is a comprehensive concept of ligament recovery. It is very important to respect biological time, the time it takes for the body to integrate this ligament. It is expected that after this period he will be fully recovered to a high level.” We must hope so for Ney, who will therefore not play the Copa América. Terrible news for the player, who will be 36 years old during the next edition.