Santos chief sets record straight on Neymar's future amid talk Brazilian superstar could shun contract extension for Flamengo move

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."

While Santos want to keep Neymar up until the 2026 World Cup at the very least, Brazilian league winners Flamengo are reportedly eyeing a move for the former Barcelona star. Teixeira, however, is still hopeful of striking a deal with the ex-Paris Saint-Germain ace.

He told ESPN: "Neymar's project is a project for next year's World Cup. The conversation has always been this. He could go anywhere and wanted to come to Santos, his home. Maybe we imagined taking advantage of it more in the first half of the year and we couldn't, but it's nobody's fault. He ends the season in a better way, he was decisive. Neymar's participation continues to be important, off the field and on it. The dialogue remains. We are evaluating the numbers and extending these values. I have a positive expectation that we will reach a common denominator for his permanence."

While the Santos president is keeping his fingers crossed that they will be able to retain Neymar, who started his career at the Brazilian giants before leaving for Barcelona in 2013, they can only do so much to keep him in 2026. 

He added, "This is more of a decision for Neymar than for Santos. What we have is the will for him to stay, to stay. We left this deadline so that he could travel with his family. He is talking to his father, to his family. There is no set deadline, but we are in a strong and good dialogue. I believe (that he stays)."

Incidentally, Neymar has scored 12 goals and added six assists in 30 appearances in his second spell at Santos.

After Neymar finishes his holiday, before going under the knife, he will set his sights on getting back to fitness quickly as he bids to be in Brazil's World Cup squad. Although he is a Brazilian icon, partly due to guiding the Selecao to Olympic gold in Rio in 2016, the ex-Al-Hilal man has no divine right to be selected. Indeed, national team boss Carlo Ancelotti said as much.

The former AC Milan and Real Madrid manager said in early December, "If we talk about Neymar, we have to talk about other players. We have to think about Brazil, which can be with Neymar or without Neymar, with other players or without other players. The definitive list we will make after the FIFA date in March. I understand very well that they are very interested in Neymar, I want to clarify that we are in December, the World Cup is in June, I will choose the team that will go to the World Cup in May. If Neymar deserves to be, if he is well, better than someone else, he will play in the World Cup and period. I don't owe anyone a debt."