I know it sounds harsh, but it might be true. Neymar will get season-ending ankle surgery after years of ankle issues and failed treatment, leaving PSG with a massive whole in their lineup to fill as their campaign hits a crucial point.
Okay, before everyone goes after me, just hear me out.
Yes, Neymar has been really good this season for PSG with his 17 goals, 11 assists (28 goal contributions) in 38 games in all competitions, but PSG has really fallen off the cliff ever since the start of the Champions League campaign. Not only did PSG finished second in a group that contained an extremely weak Juventus side (who didn’t progress), Maccabi Haifa, and Benfica (who did progress), but they now face elimination in the Round of 16 with their 1-0 deficit to Bayern Munich.
Simply put, PSG seem all but set to repeat yet another season of Champions League failure since Leo Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar were teamed up to form a supposed “super team”.
“Why is this all Neymar’s fault?” his most avid supporters are probably crying out right now. “Messi and Mbappe are both in the team too!” And such a sentiment would be correct as none of the Champions League failure can solely be attributed to just Neymar, Messi or Mbappe. The constant failure in the Champions League is down to the biggest issue PSG have faced since they put Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar into one team: they can’t win when they all play together.
Given Neymar’s injury history, Mbappe’s position as striker (and supposed backroom power/control), and Messi’s age, the front three rarely presses when asked by manager Christophe Galtier and are all poor defenders when PSG does not have possession.
Thus, PSG’s midfield and defense are often overrun and faced with overloads in either the central midfield (when Mbappe doesn’t track back) or on the wings (when Messi and Neymar don’t track back) against the best of Europe, which has resulted in their early exits from the Champions League since their 2020 Finals run.
Of course, the simple answer is to just drop either Messi, Neymar, or Mbappe in some kind of equal rotation for games against the like of Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man City, Liverpool, Atletico, etc., but that mindset inherently goes against why PSG bough these three in the first place. Not only does the PSG hierarchy want to win playing a front three of Messi-Mbappe-Neymar, but they also paid these players huge contracts to win such games.
Messi was given a 2-year, €82M contact in 2021 (ends 2023), Mbappe was reportedly given an outrageous 3-year, €630M deal last summer (ends 2025), and Neymar has a 4-year deal he signed back in 2021 rumored to be worth €146M (ends 2025). Now, not all of these salaries are completely verified as PSG is more recluse with how much they pay players than a leprechaun is with his gold, but that’s an unbelievable €858M tied up on three players.
You can’t just bench a player making this kind of money without massive repercussions from the PSG management and said player’s entourage.
However, if said player is injured and needs season-ending surgery, that gives Galtier the excuse to play a more balanced system. Instead of having to cater to three individuals who don’t play defense or track back out of possession, PSG can now add another body in the midfield or defense to combat Bayern and the rest of Europe’s giants.
It’s not great to say this, but PSG losing Neymar might save their Champions League hopes.
As for Neymar, I’d be making the same argument if either Messi or Mbappe was out for the rest of the season. It’s a shame he’ll miss yet another second half of a season due to these recurring ankle injuries, but this is life and football. Injuries happen.
I hope his ankle will be able to heal properly and he’ll come back an even better player next year.
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