Neymar considered RETIREMENT during 'exhausting' injury struggles at Santos, father reveals

With Neymar seemingly incapable of avoiding the treatment table for long periods, the 33-year-old found himself asking questions of whether it was worth putting his body and mind through such torment.

He was, however, to play through pain in a bid to steer Santos away from relegation danger in 2025. Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, with 79 international goals to his name, is also clinging to the dream of representing his country at the 2026 World Cup.

He has had further surgery on a problematic knee, but a rehabilitation programme is being worked through and any plans to hang up boots for the final time have been put on hold for now.

Discussing the leaking of news regarding Neymar’s latest operation, with it being revealed to the world that he would be forced under the knife before the man himself had been informed, the South American superstar’s father told the Rafa Tecla T YouTube channel: “We were monitoring Neymar all the time, constantly trying to take him out. But he’s a guy who never holds back on the field. You can’t make him hold back. Next thing you know, he’s tracking back, asking for the ball all the time. He’s extremely competitive. How do you control that? By keeping him off the field — that’s the only way.”

Neymar Senior added on the mental toll that fitness issues have taken: “You only put him in when you truly have peace of mind. Just like now. He had a meniscus injury. The press leaked it before we even talked to him, and his head just went to zero. For a moment, I couldn’t save my son’s mental state. It hits him hard — people saying Neymar won’t play again this year. His mind just collapses.”

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He went on to say of Neymar having to be talked out of calling it quits: “When I get home, I go to my son’s place and ask: ‘Son, what’s up? How are you?’ He looks at me and says: ‘I can’t take it anymore, man. Let’s do the surgery. Dad… I don’t even know if it’s worth operating. For me, that’s it’. When he said that, I answered: ‘That’s it? Then why operate? Just do the surgery and we stop, and next year we’ll think about what to do’. Then I told him: ‘Son, if you want to have the surgery so we can focus on your recovery and you can be well, I’m with you’.”

On a World Cup carrot being dangled, Neymar Sr added: “I started talking to him, telling him a few things: ‘You know what it is? There’s a narrative out there. A few very noisy people — not many, but extremely loud — who want to make you give up. If we give up… there’s very little left, man. Six months. After June, July, I don’t know if we’ll win or not. But I’ll go with you. Then I think we’ve fulfilled our mission, whether we’re champions or not. But you have to be in it. You can’t accept what those noisy people are doing. You can’t listen to what’s coming from the outside.’”

Neymar’s response to that was to knuckle down and highlight his full commitment to the Santos cause. His father revealed: “The next morning he messages me: ‘I’m going to train. I’ll see if I can handle it’. He goes there, does everything. He said he felt a little pain, but he managed to train. Then he started shooting with his left foot, with his right. I said: ‘Man, are you crazy? Just try running. Just moving around the field is already enough’. He looked at me, nodded his head. ‘I think it works’.”

Despite seeing a move to reunite with ex-Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez at MLS side Inter Miami speculated on - as the fabled ‘MSN’ strike force is reformed - it is now being reported that Neymar is ready to extend his contract with Santos through another season and, potentially, the 2026 World Cup.