According to Thomas Meunier, Neymar has “lost his magic” after joining Paris Saint-Germain. The Borussia Dortmund defender was a “great fan” of the player when the Brazilian moved to Parc des Princes from Barcelona in a world record transfer in 2017, but he believes the Brazilian’s performance level has dropped since moving to France.
To Meunier’s dismay, Neymar has made fewer than 150 appearances for PSG in the past five years due to constant injury woes. He has also only occasionally displayed the brilliance that propelled him to stardom at Camp Nou. The Belgian full-back, who spent three seasons with Neymar in Paris Saint-Germain before switching to Dortmund in 2020 said: “I have to admit that I was a big fan of Neymar when he was still playing at Barcelona.
“In Paris, however, he lost his magic, from my point of view. The comeback is all about him. If I was 10, I would have had his poster in my room.”
Thomas Meunier, a former Paris Saint-Germain defender, had a difficult time at PSG. He recently blamed his poor performance back then on the club’s former sporting director Leonardo.
Meunier admitted that he was sidelined by the then sports director because he didn’t want to extend his contract with Paris Saint-Germain.
He added that everything happened without him even right up to the UEFA Champions League final although he deserved to travel with the team that day.
According to him, it wasn’t easy for him to leave Paris because of some private reasons and his family loved the city which made it hard to give up. But it took time for them to adapt to the new life ahead of them.
Neymar reaction to Thomas Meunier’s comments
Thomas Meunier’s comment about Neymar didn’t end well with the Brazilian as Neymar wasted no time in tackling him.
Replying to a post that showed Thomas Meunier’s comment on Instagram, Neymar commented: “This boy talks too much.”
Neymar wasn’t interested in Thomas Meunier’s comments 🤫 pic.twitter.com/rnMVEkE0ir
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 27, 2022
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain is ready to release Neymar this summer if any good offer comes for him but the player is reluctant to depart.
According to the 30-year-old he wants to stay at the club and still has over five years left on his contract with the French Ligue 1 champions.
He added that the club has not told him to leave and he has nothing to prove to anyone because people know him and his style of play.
The Brazilian star player has also started the pre-season tour in a good form as he found the back of the net twice in their last game. Paris Saint-Germain’s new head coach Christopher Galtier has also revealed that he wants Neymar to stay in his squad next season.
