Neymar claims to have experienced ‘hell’ with Lionel Messi at PSG after failing to ‘make history’ in France

Both are now taking on new challenges away from Parc des Princes, with moves made in the summer of 2023. Messi has, after two years with the Ligue 1 champions, rediscovered his spark in the United States with Inter Miami. Neymar, meanwhile, has traded PSG for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia some six years on from his record-breaking €222 million (£190m/$240m) transfer that rocked the footballing world.

Neither enjoyed the best of times in France, with Neymar telling Globo of being reunited with former Barcelona team-mate Messi and why their dream turned into a nightmare: “I was very happy for the year he had, but at the same time very sad, because he lived both sides of the coin, he went to heaven with the Argentina team, won everything in recent years, and with Paris he lived hell. We lived through hell, both he and I. We get upset, because we're not there for nothing, we're there to do our best, be champions, try to make history, that's why we started playing together again, we came together there so we could make history. Unfortunately, we didn't make it.”

Neymar added on Messi’s decision to walk away as a free agent, with the seven-time Ballon d’Or needing a fresh start in order to start playing with a smile on his face again at club level: “Messi left in a way that, for football, he didn't deserve. For everything he is, everything he does, anyone who knows him knows, he is a guy who trains, who fights, if he loses he gets angry, and he was unfairly treated in my opinion. But at the same time I was very happy that he won the World Cup. As you said, football was fair this time, since the Brazilian team lost, Messi deserved to end his career like this.”

There had been talk of Messi and Neymar returning to Camp Nou this summer, but they have decided to spread their wings elsewhere as they help to raise the profile of domestic games in America and the Middle East.