Doctors warn that Neymar's injury is much worse than first thought – and risks ruling him out of big games

Neymar

The Brazil international is currently looking for a way out of the French capital, with Barcelona and Real Madrid showing interest in bringing him back to Spain.

But the La Liga clubs could be put off after PSG medical staff told Le Parisien of their fears that the 27-year-old’s toe still hasn't healed, suggesting that the treatment he received in Brazil might not have been up to standard.

Neymar fractured a metatarsal in his toe on Ligue 1 duty against Marseille in February 2018, ruling him out for most of the season, before breaking the same toe earlier this year and spending another four months out injured.

The French outlet were told by PSG doctors that “the player’s injury could reoccur if he plays games at the highest level”, while adding that “there are many doubts surrounding the treatment he received in Brazil due to the methods used not being ideal in terms of curing this type of injury”.

According to AS, Barça were told by specialists that the player might have pseudoarthrosis, or nonunion, in the toe, meaning it hasn’t healed properly and a bone graft could be required to fix the problem.

The same specialists are said to have been suspicious that the reported ankle sprain that ruled Neymar out of this summer’s Copa America was actually a cover story to hide another fracture of the same toe.

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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.