Neymar is busted! PSG star honoured with statue in Paris

It may have seemed unlikely during the summer when he was pushing for a move back to Barcelona, but Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar has been honoured with a bust in the French capital.

As of Wednesday and running until November 14, a three-metre high image of the Brazil international’s head will be on display at Hotel George V in the city’s 8th arrondissement.

The image has been designed by Brazilian artist Marcos Marin and is part of an exhibition of 50 sculptures, of which 20 have been designed by the South American.

“I made this piece for the 2014 World Cup in Russia and I could not bring myself to leave it outside of Paris,” he is quoted by Le Parisien as having said.

Neymar has had a turbulent year, beginning with a serious foot injury, which saw him miss a series of vital matches for the Parisians at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.

Thereafter, he was embroiled in the summer’s major transfer story as he pushed for a move back to Spain, where Barcelona and Real Madrid were both reported to be interested in securing his services. 

A transfer never materialised, with PSG reluctant to sell one of their most marketable stars for a cut-price fee.

During the period of the saga, Neymar was left out of the first team but returned with a bang, scoring late winners on his return fixtures against Strasbourg and Lyon. Although he failed to find his mark in a 2-0 loss against Reims, he bounced back with another decisive late contribution against Bordeaux and was again on target against Angers.

With the 27-year-old ace gaining a head of steam, he suffered a further setback during the international break, with a thigh problem sustained during Brazil’s friendly with Senegal set to rule him out until the middle of November.

As such, he is poised to miss PSG’s crunch Ligue 1 encounter against bitter rivals Marseille, as well as Champions League encounters against Club Brugge. He will hope to return by the time PSG meet last season’s runners-up Lille on November 23.