Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior has rejoined Santos FC, his boyhood club, after 12 years.
On Jan. 27, Neymar announced that he will join Santos FC, a Brazilian soccer team, after his contract with Al Hilal was terminated. At Al Hilal, Neymar was injured for most of the time; he only played seven matches and scored only once, but still made $107 million.
Neymar, also known as “The Prince who never became King,” began his amazing career at Santos FC when he was only 17. He became very popular and got the attention of FC Barcelona after he scored 136 goals and won the Puskas award, awarded for the goal of the year.
At Barcelona he played with many big names like Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez Creus. During this tim,e he faced many injuries, and he left Barcelona to go to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, where his career started to go downhill as he faced more injuries.
On Oct. 17 ,2023 Neymar tore his ACL in a World Cup qualifying game right after he announced he would go to the Saudi League to play for AL Hilal. At Al Hilal, Neymar only played seven matches, as he was recovering from his knee injury.
According to an article published on Jan. 31 in ESPN, Neymar’s contract with Santos will last six months.
“A tearful Neymar was welcomed back to his boyhood club Friday by thousands of Santos fans and a concert at the team’s home stadium beneath an electronic sign saying, “the prince is back,” ESPN stated. “Around 20,000 Santos fans filled Vila Belmiro Stadium in the rain outside São Paulo to celebrate the return of Neymar.”
Enzo Benetti, a Brazilian soccer player, says Neymar is very special to him.
” I support Internacional since I took my first breath in this world, and watching Neymar play, a player that I adore watching, makes me even support two teams because he is that special to me and the culture of Brazil, ” he said.
Enzo says that he has watched Neymar throughout his whole life, and that he looks up to him.
Runny Obiero, a soccer player from Nairobi, Kenya, admires Neymar, and says that he will be fine after his injuries.
“Neymar will be fit for sure, he just needs some time to get used to the league because he has been out in rehab for [so long’,]” he said.
Runny is referring to Neymar’s injuries he has had in the past. Throughout his career he has faced many types of injuries, varying from ligaments tears to a pulled hamstring. Neymar had ankle surgery in the 22/23 season, putting him out for 131 days, and recently he picked up a cruciate ligament tear when playing Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier.
Since Neymar is a winger, which is an attacker, he is very dangerous to the opposing teams; they try to foul him and do anything they can to stop him.
Neymar is not the only player to go back to his boyhood club. Sergio Ramos, a Spanish center back, started his career on Sevilla FC, a Spanish team in Laliga in 2004. In 2023, Ramos rejoined Sevilla at the age of 38 to play one of his last seasons of soccer with the team.
There are many other athletes in different sports who have followed a similar path. Jose Reyes, a baseball player from the Dominican Republic., played on the Mets in 2011 and ended up going back to the Mets in 2016. Scottie Pippen, a basketball player, played for the Chicago Bulls from ’87 to ’98, moved to the Houston Rockets, and he ended up coming back to the Bulls to end his career in 2003-04 season.
