PSG's Neymar Jr. Arrives Brazil, Surgery To Happen Saturday
Thu Mar 01, 2018 03:00:pm Sports
9.6K By franklyn Anude
Brazil and Paris St. Germain Neymar Jr has arrived Rio de Janeiro on ahead of an operation on his injury that has ruled him out from action for up to three months. The player, currently the world's most expensive player arrived on an Air France flight from Paris and left in a wheelchair, a photo taken by one of the flight's passengers showed.
Neymar was all smiles as he took selfies with passengers, before leaving on a private jet to an undisclosed destination. Brazil's team surgeon, Rodigo Lasmar who will lead the procedure said the surgical appointment has been set for Saturday.
"The (recovery) period will be around two and a half to three months. It's not a simple fracture, but a fracture in an important bone in the middle of the foot," Lasmar told journalists after arriving with the player on the same Air France flight.
The 26 year old will miss not just PSG's important Champions League match with Champions Real Madrid but also might miss Brazil's preparation for the 2018 world holding in Russia from June 14.
The Brazil star sustained the injury during PSG's league game with Marseille on Sunday in the 80th minute. Initial scans did not appear too serious with the player's father on Tuesday, claiming he would be out for "at least six weeks".
PSG coach Unai Emery had said earlier that there remained a "small chance" of the player getting back in time to face Real Madrid next Tuesday, March 6 but later assessment revealed the extent of his injury to be much more serious than initial prognosis.
"Yesterday we went back to the hospital (in Paris) and made new exams that left the seriousness of the fracture very clear," Lasmar told journalists in Rio.
"There was no doubt left regarding the treatment. We were unanimous in agreeing that it would have to be surgical treatment. More conservative treatment, without surgery, would present a far greater risk for re-fracture. We can't run that risk."
The injury is also a setback for the player, who has so far scored 28 goals in 30 appearances in all competitions for PSG since his world-record 222 million-euro ($264 million) move from Barcelona last August.
Images of Sunday's unfortunate tackle on Neymar by Marseille's player Bouna Sarr were being shown repeatedly on TV, often in slow motion, before he was stretchered off.
"I don't think we can really talk about fears of him not being at the World Cup. But there is a noticeable haste to find a solution so that Neymar will have recovered in time," an ESPN Brasil sports commentator, Mauro Cezar Pereira, told AFP.
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