PSG HAVE CONFIRMED that Neymar has undergone successful surgery on his fractured metatarsal but will be out for a minimum of six weeks, as the player races to be fit for the World Cup in Russia.
The 26-year-old travelled to his homeland to have the operation, which could rule him out for the rest of the season and has his World Cup participation in doubt.
The one hour and 15 minute operation at the Mater Dei hospital in Belo Horizonte “took place with great success, without any problem,” said Brazilian national team surgeon Rodrigo Lasmar, who led the procedure.
Only a short time later the player was watching live coverage from his hospital room of PSG’s Ligue 1 game against Troyes, said Gerard Saillant, the doctor representing PSG in Belo Horizonte.
PSG said that Neymar will not be able to return to training for at least six weeks. This followed an earlier statement from Lasmar that the star player would be out of action for at least two and a half to three months.
Amid reports of tensions between PSG and Brazil’s footballing authorities over Neymar’s treatment, PSG insisted that it would be monitoring his recuperation.
“The post-operation rehabilitation will begin immediately under the control of the club’s physiotherapist,” PSG said in a statement on their website.
“An assessment will be conducted in six weeks in order to determine the possible date of his return to training.”
Neymar broke his fifth metatarsal — the bone leading to his small toe — during a 3-0 drubbing of Marseille on 25 February.
The striker, whose transfer from Barcelona cost PSG a record €222 million last August, has scored 28 goals in 30 appearances in all competitions for the club.
Now Neymar will definitely miss PSG’s make-or-break Champions League last 16 second-leg against Real Madrid next Tuesday.
But if Lasmar’s prognosis of a nearly three month wait is true, then Brazil will be scrambling even to get him ready for the World Cup in Russia starting in June.
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