Real Madrid will not be signing Neymar this summer.
That is according to the player himself. Neymar says he will be remaining at PSG this season.
“I’m staying. I’m staying in Paris. I have a contract. Most of the speculation is made by the media,” Neymar told reporters.
“Everyone knows my objective, why I went to Paris. I want to have success with that club and I hope next season could be wonderful.”
On 3 August 2017, Barcelona announced that Neymar’s legal representatives made a payment of €222 million to the club (most expensive transfer ever), equal to the release clause of his contract. The club informed UEFA so that they can determine any disciplinary responsibilities that may arise from this case. According to the BBC, in Spain, the release clause must be activated by the footballer himself. The situation was unusual that the fee was paid to the club directly after La Liga had refused to receive the payment.
Neymar joined French club Paris Saint-Germain on a contract that would run until 2022. He was offered the number 10 jersey by Javier Pastore as a “welcome gift”
On 27 August 2017, FC Barcelona filed a lawsuit against Neymar, demanding he return the contract renewal bonus he received as well as €8.5 million in damages and an additional 10% for the arrears. They claimed they are owed money that Neymar received as part of a renewal bonus when he signed a new contract in 2016. The club also requested Paris Saint-Germain to take on the responsibility for the payment of the fees if the player cannot do so himself. Neymar’s lawyers announced that they will contest the case.
He made his debut for Les Rouge-et-Bleu on 13 August, netting a goal for himself and also setting up another in a 3–0 away victory over Guingamp. Neymar added two more goals to his tally in the next Ligue 1 fixture against Toulouse. Forming a prolific attacking trio alongside teenage French prodigy Kylian Mbappé and Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, Neymar scored one each in PSG’s two opening games of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage, with the team winning 5–0 at Celtic and 3–0 at home over Bayern Munich respectively.
During a 3–0 defeat of rivals Olympique de Marseille on 25 February 2018, Neymar fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot. He traveled to Belo Horizonte and underwent a successful operation on his foot.[124] He failed to make another appearance for PSG while recovering from the injury, and consequently ended his first season in Paris with 28 goals in 30 matches.
In May 2018, Neymar was named in Tite’s final 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. On 3 June 2018, he made his international comeback after a three-month absence from a foot injury and scored a goal in a 2–0 win over Croatia in a friendly match at Anfield. The following week, he became Brazil’s joint-third highest goalscorer alongside Romário when he scored his 55th international goal in a 3–0 friendly win over Austria. In Brazil’s second World Cup match, played against Costa Rica at the Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, on 22 June, Neymar scored the team’s second goal in injury time as Brazil won 2–0. The goal, his 56th for Brazil, took him third in the all-time scoring chart behind only Pelé and Ronaldo.
On 2 July, Neymar scored his second goal of the World Cup in a 2–0 win over Mexico in the last 16, while also assisting Roberto Firmino for his goal. After the Mexico game, BBC Sport wrote that despite Neymar’s “good performances” coming up top in several statistics at the World Cup, “there is still a sense that he remains widely unpopular among neutrals” due to his “petulance and the play-acting”. Meanwhile, Brazilian newspaper O Globo wrote that “Neymar has charmed Brazil, but annoyed the whole world”. On 6 July, Brazil were eliminated after losing 2–1 against Belgium in the quarter-finals, with Neymar denied an injury time equaliser by a finger-tip save from Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.