Neymar has understandably been the subject of countless scrutiny and rumors since his extravagant and shocking move to Paris Saint-Germain.
These rumors are getting to him.
The penalty kerfuffle with Edinson Cavani has boiled over into whispers of his full-on dissatisfaction in Paris, and a failure to mesh with the squad. There are rumblings that he is unhappy in Paris, just months after completing his switch from Barcelona.
The latest talk is that, upon reuniting with former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez in a visit to Barcelona’s training facility, he asked those around him if they would “accept him back.”
When asked about those rumors at his most recent press conference on international duty with Brazil, Neymar was obviously defensive about his personal feelings. “I am doing well, happy and very motivated to win with PSG and to be a player who gives his all on the pitch,” he said. “And that has been making the [journalists] uncomfortable. They are making up a lot of stories that just are not true.”
But his true colors came through on Friday when Brazil national team coach Tite took to defend his player.
“People always said I had problems with Neymar,” Tite said as Neymar began to get emotional. “We are sick of hearing that. I can say he has personality and character. We are not perfect, we are human beings. Sometimes we react in the wrong way. I did that in my career. But we have to be careful when we talk about people’s character and nature. I can talk about Neymar’s character, nature, and big heart.”
Eventually, Neymar couldn’t hold it in any longer, and he excused himself from the press conference abruptly.
Whether he’s unhappy or not, on the field it hasn’t shown. Through 12 matches across all competitions, Neymar has a whopping 11 goals and nine assists. He is scoring a goal every 98 minutes, a gaudy number.
