How many games has Neymar missed with injury since leaving Barca?

FT Desk

• 15 Feb 2022 18:05 GMT
• 3 min read

Paris Saint-Germain fans would have been cursing their luck on Tuesday evening when the club announced that Neymar had not been deemed fit enough to start their Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

The Brazil international has been out of action since he was tretchered off during PSG’s Ligue 1 clash with Saint-Etienne in late November.

And despite some rumours of him making a return for this high-profile game, the club confirmed that he hadn't yet fully recovered from his ankle injury.

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Neymar hoped to become the best player in the world when he opted to escape Lionel Messi’s shadow at Barcelona and sign for PSG in a world record €222 million deal in 2017.

However, his spell at PSG has unfortunately been completely overshadowed by numerous injury layoffs.

How many games has Neymar missed due to injury?

Since making the move to the French capital, Neymar has missed a massive 101 games due to injury at PSG.

To put that into some kind of context, the forward has only played 130 times in all competitions since arriving, which will translate to far less than 60 per cent of all of PSG’s games.

The Brazilian has never once played more than 20 of PSG’s 38 Ligue 1 matches in his five seasons at the club. In three of the four previous campaigns he has featured in less than 50 per cent of Ligue 1 games.

In his first season at the club, Neymar suffered a metatarsal fracture in February that ruled him out for 90 days and forced him to miss the Champions League last-16 second leg exit to Real Madrid.

He missed PSG’s Champions League knockout journey again the following campaign with another metatarsal fracture that kept him out for 85 days.

A ruptured ankle ligament forced Neymar to miss the 2019 Copa America, although he only sat out one PSG game during this 63-day absence.

Last season, Neymar had no major injuries but rather repeated physical issues – five in total over the campaign.

And this season, Neymar has already had three injuries, with the latest now set to deprive him of around eight weeks of football. And we now know, he hasn't yet managed to shake off such a nasty injury.

It is fair to say that Neymar has not played enough football for PSG to justify his €222m transfer fee.