Despite playing through the pain of a knee injury, something he will have an arthroscopy on when he returns from his holiday in the United States, Neymar was instrumental in Santos maintaining their top-flight status in recent weeks. The veteran scored five goals and added an assist in his last four games as Peixe narrowly avoided the drop. Teixeira has previously said that renewing Neymar's contract, which expires at the end of December, is a big "priority" but the player himself left the door open to an exit.
In early December, Neymar said, "I do not know, really. I don’t know. I need some days now, I need to rest, disconnect then decide my future. For sure my priority always goes to Santos."
