Analysis by Hikaru Sakamoto
Brazil may have booked their ticket to the 2026 World Cup by finishing fifth in CONMEBOL qualifying, but their long-time talisman Neymar finds himself in a worrying spot.
Neymar suffered a torn ACL and meniscus damage in his left knee during a national-team match back in October 2023. He returned to the pitch roughly a year later, but has still not made it back to the Seleção squad.
Now 33, he rejoined boyhood club Santos this season, yet ongoing fitness issues continue to haunt him.
According to Globo, Neymar has sustained a new meniscus injury in his left knee and is expected to miss all remaining matches this year.
He appeared to aggravate the area during the match on the 19th and sat out the game against Internacional on the 24th. Santos currently sit 17th—squarely in the relegation zone—and Neymar is now considered unlikely to feature in the club’s final three fixtures.
The outlet notes: “Since undergoing surgery to repair his torn left ACL in October 2023, Neymar has never fully regained his form. This marks his fourth injury in the 2025 season.”
Neymar turns 34 in February. As the top scorer in Brazil’s national-team history, the question now is whether he can recover in time for the World Cup.
The Bigger Picture
I find myself agreeing with the overwhelming sentiment here: Neymar’s story has slowly shifted from brilliance to inevitability, and injuries sit at the center of that change. This no longer feels like a sudden decline or a temporary dip in form. Supporters see it as something far more cruel — a career whose peak years were quietly taken away piece by piece.
There is no denial of what he once was. Prime Neymar represented flair, imagination, and a kind of football that felt joyful rather than calculated. Yet the comments circle back to the same conclusion: his body simply could not carry that style into his 30s. What once looked like exaggeration or theatrics now reads, in hindsight, as survival. Protecting himself became part of his game because it had to be.
Age has caught up faster than expected, not because of numbers on a birth certificate, but because the injuries never stopped. The movement looks heavier. The explosiveness is gone. Even at club level, expectations have quietly shifted from dominance to mere availability. Among supporters, there is little shock left — just resignation.
This isn’t framed as a failure of talent. Quite the opposite. The tragedy, as many see it, is that the talent was extraordinary enough to spark endless “what ifs.” What if the injuries hadn’t come so early? What if the body had held together just a few years longer? Those questions now feel unanswered forever.
Fan Reactions
- His peak years were basically stolen by injuries. The diving became a meme, but self-preservation was all he had left.
- Hard to believe he’s already at that age. It feels like retirement isn’t far off.
- So that’s it for the World Cup, then?
- His movement looks sluggish now. He holds the ball too long and can’t beat players anymore.
- Since the later PSG years it’s been injury after injury. Such a brutal decline for that level of talent.
- He’s younger than Ronaldo and Messi, but it honestly feels like he’ll retire before both of them.
- Messi and Ronaldo lasting this long completely ruined the longevity curve for everyone else.
- If he had Cristiano’s discipline, maybe things could’ve gone differently.
- At this point I don’t see him fully recovering. Every comeback just leads to another injury.
- Once football becomes “just a job that pays insane money,” staying ultra-disciplined gets harder.
- His reported salary sounds low, but money clearly isn’t the priority anymore. He went home to retire where he grew up.
- Even now, whenever he’s on the pitch, Brazil still feels dangerous. You always expect something.
- Without extreme care, playing into your late 30s is almost impossible.
- Brazilian attackers tend to burn out early. If they had Messi or Ronaldo longevity, history might look very different.
- Prime Neymar was unreal — flair, footwork, pure entertainment. Seeing him become a local star hurts.
- He had all-time-great talent. With more discipline, he could’ve been in that conversation.
- Discipline can’t protect you from a catastrophic injury anyway.
- In the end, Messi and Ronaldo might just be freaks who don’t get injured.
What Remains
What lingers after reading these reactions isn’t anger or mockery — it’s sadness mixed with acceptance. Supporters aren’t arguing over blame anymore. They’re mourning a version of Neymar that once felt unstoppable and now feels permanently out of reach.
There is still respect for the magic he brought, and even now, a quiet belief that something unexpected could happen whenever he steps on the pitch. But the dominant feeling is clear: this chapter is winding down on its own terms, shaped less by choices than by physical reality.
Neymar’s legacy, as fans see it, is already written. Not as a cautionary tale, but as a reminder of how fragile brilliance can be — and how rare it is for a career to escape the limits of the human body.
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