Two weeks ago Neymar’s hopes of having one last crack at the World Cup looked like a forlorn dream.
The return to Santos had emphatically not lived up to expectations and the serious knee injury he suffered playing for Brazil in October 2023 was taking its toll.
Neymar spent the year repeatedly breaking down with niggling injuries. Unable to build up any rhythm, he looked a shadow of his former self; he could still strike a dead ball or see a pass, but he was unable to get away from his marker and glide past defenders.
Santos were deep in relegation trouble, and Neymar cut a frustrated, petulant figure, at war with everyone around him – opponents, referees, even his own team-mates.
His name would come up in every Brazil news conference – but this was a bomb that coach Carlo Ancelotti found easy to defuse, using general statements about the need to take only fully fit players to the USA.
The past 10 days might have saved Neymar’s World Cup. They have certainly shaken things up.
It looked as if his year might be over. He needs a minor knee operation. But, heavily strapped up, he took to the field and was the driving force behind three consecutive wins that carried Santos to safety- and even in to next year’s version of the Europa League equivalent.
There was a goal and an assist in the 3-0 win over Sport, a hat-trick in the 3-0 win away to Juventude, and no goals but a fine contribution in the clinching 3-0 win over Cruzeiro. Neymar had saved the best of the season until last.
A huge ‘but’ applies here. The fixture list could not have been easier. Sport and Juventude had already been relegated. Cruzeiro, in midweek cup semi-final action, fielded the reserves. These games have next to nothing to do with the World Cup.
But they have changed the scenario. Had Santos gone down, things looked bleak. Playing himself into the Brazil squad would have been impossible from the second division, and options of finding another club would have been limited.
Now, this changes. It is not certain that he will stay at Santos. His contract runs out at the end of the month, and many at the club are concerned that they cannot afford him. The probability now is that he will stay, for six months at least – and if not, the past few days have surely proved enough for another Brazilian club to offer him a short-term deal.
And with the first division kicking off at the end of January – two months earlier than usual – if he can come back flying from minor knee surgery then he has enough time to put himself in the conversation.
As Ancelotti said last Friday when pressed on the subject once more, we are in December and the World Cup is not until June. It all depends, then, on what Neymar does with the next few months.
