Neymar foot injury just the latest act in his PSG pantomime
Having injured his ankle and fractured his metatarsal playing against Marseille on Sunday, we may well have seen Neymar in a PSG shirt for the final time. Or, at least, that’s what the gossip columns are bound to claim sooner rather than later. Everything Neymar does between now and the summer will be interpreted in the context of his supposed desire to move to Real Madrid, with the thought of the fees and wages involved in such a deal enough to collapse the human mind in on itself with a sad, wet squelch.
“Neymar is not going to be operated on, that’s not true.” Unai Emery
Only where Neymar is involved could a two-month injury lay-off so quickly be subsumed into a transfer narrative. If the Brazilian forward really is out for the next two months, he would return some time in late April with the Ligue 1 season almost at an end. Suppose that PSG go out of the Champions League to Real – as would seem more than likely in Neymar’s absence and given their 3-1 deficit from the first leg – he might only be available for Les Parisiens’ last three league matches against Amiens, Rennes and Caen as well as, potentially, the final of the Coupe de France in May.
That said, with the press whipped up into a frenzy over his injury and presenting it as a portent of doom for the French champions elect, PSG manager Unai Emery has already moved to quell the hysteria. He has dismissed reports that Neymar needs surgery, saying: “Neymar is not going to be operated on, that’s not true. I talked to the doctors and we’re still to make a decision.
READ MORE: Neymar out for two months with broken foot
“We’ll see the passing of the next few days to make a decision. This is a moment of calm. There is a small chance for Neymar to be able to play against Real Madrid – we have to be patient. Now the most important thing is PSG. All the players are ready, and Neymar was the first to want to play all the games, [he’s] focused to get to Real Madrid as well.”
Pantomime in Paris
When we look back on this campaign, Neymar’s injury will be merely one of the acts in the pantomime of his first season in Paris. From his argument with Edinson Cavani over penalty duties to problematic cliques in the dressing room, from criticism over his lifestyle, attitude and sense of sportsmanship to reports of divisions between him and the management team, Neymar has been the virtuoso lead actor in his own personal melodrama this term.
READ MORE: Rami ‘saddened’ by Neymar injury during defeat of Marseille
With the summer fast approaching and the rumour mill clunking ponderously into gear, reports linking him with a move to Real Madrid are only going to proliferate in the coming months. Neymar’s spell on the sidelines will no doubt encourage even greater speculation about his personal happiness, job satisfaction and broader state of mind. For fans at the Parc des Princes, there must be an acceptance that supporting Neymar is essentially a theatrical experience. Even when he’s out of action with a knock, as claim and counter-claim about the seriousness of his injury almost bring the roof down, the spotlight illuminates his every move. The Neymar show must go on.
