Paris, 18 Feb. – Paris Saint Germain are trying to get out of their crisis in tomorrow’s league match against Lille, with their Brazilian star Neymar once again in the eye of the storm for his lifestyle.
The Parisian club has chained three consecutive defeats (championship, elimination in the Cup and in the Champions League), unheard of since November 2011, very shortly after the arrival of the current Qatari owners.
If we add two more league defeats, PSG have lost five matches in just over a month, without the remodeling of the dressing room last summer seeming to have worked and with coach Christophe Galtier, too. arrived in pre-season, already questioned.
The latest defeat was the most significant, last Tuesday against Bayern Munich 0-1, which also puts PSG’s real goal, the Champions League, in serious danger, since not winning the weak French championship seems beyond doubt. .
After this defeat, Kylian Mbappé urged his teammates to apply themselves to lift the round of 16 in Germany. “Above all, our players need to be healthy. Everyone needs to eat well, sleep well and prepare as much as possible,” said the French star.
But just the next day, Neymar gave the note when pictures emerged of him at a poker tournament – an engagement he had had for some time – and having dinner at a fast food chain.
“I told him what I thought,” Galtier told the press, who nevertheless acknowledged that the player has the right to use his free time as he sees fit.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian’s performance, full of ups and downs, has again drawn criticism, especially in the past two months, overshadowed by a world champion Messi and an ubiquitous Mbappé.
The player’s entourage hinted to the French press that Neymar struggled to recover from an injury suffered in the right ankle during the World Cup in Qatar (a lateral ligament contusion and bone oedema).
Strong as the criticism of his game and lifestyle is, Neymar has a contract with PSG until 2027 and his stratospheric salary and age of 31 make it highly unlikely that another team will want to sign him, so the Parisians and the Brazilian star seem destined to continue together.
During the last winter market, there were reports of a possible interest from the Englishman Chelsea, but in the end the London club focused on signing young talents, in particular with the Argentinian Enzo Fernández and the Ukrainian Mykhailo Mudryk.
After the market closes, Ney’s lifestyle and partying continues to make headlines in France. L’Equipe publishes this Saturday a report with testimonies from neighbors of the Brazilian player in Bougival, a wealthy town of 8,000 inhabitants at the gates of Paris.
“This person has no respect. The fact that he is Neymar does not excuse him. Some of his evenings lasted 48 hours”, complains a resident of the town.
The latest example was the player’s last birthday celebration on February 5, with outdoor music playing until midnight on the 5,000 square meter lot owned by his mansion.
The mayor himself, Luc Watelle, admitted to being “powerless” in the pages of Le Parisien for the frequent and noisy evenings of the Brazilian.
The other neighbors feel less embarrassed. “We hear the cries of the girls and the roar of the engines, but it’s acceptable. It happens once a month maximum”, says another resident.