Brazilian football star Neymar Jr reflected on his relationship with former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe, dropping a bombshell regarding the equation the players shared with each other and with Lionel Messi upon the Argentine legend’s arrival at the French club in 2021.
Neymar and Mbappe joined PSG in the same transfer window in the summer of 2017, a pair of huge-money moves that changed the landscape of football. Neymar reflected on how he and Mbappe, a teenager at the time of his arrival from Monaco, got along, while speaking on Brazilian great Romario’s podcast.
“I have my things with him, we had a little fight, but he was fundamental for us when he arrived,” explained the current Al-Hilal playmaker. “I used to call him golden boy. I always played with him, said he was going to be one of the best. I always helped, talked to him, he came to my place, we had dinner together.”
Neymar and Mbappe formed the core of a formidable attacking unit in Paris, helping the team to the Champions League final in 2020. However, the lack of a Champions League trophy is seen as a failure for PSG, especially given the size of the investment.
“We had some good years of partnership, but after Messi came he was a little jealous,” explained Neymar. The Brazilian’s former teammate at FC Barcelona joined forces with him once again in 2021 when the Spanish club failed to meet his desired wages.
“He didn’t want to split me with anyone,” joked Neymar. “And then there were some fights, a change in behavior.” The trio of Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi spent two years together at PSG, but it never quite clicked as early Champions League exits and a league title lost to Lille left the hierarchy unhappy.
‘Big egos were almost everywhere…’
Cryptically, Neymar said “It is good to have egos, but you have to know that you don’t play alone. There needs to be another guy by your side. (Big) egos were almost everywhere, it can’t work. If nobody runs and nobody helps, it is impossible to win anything.”
Mbappe was often criticised for pushing for a move to Real Madrid while at PSG, and his development into one of the world’s best players clashed with the status of Messi and Neymar as two of the best players in the history of the sport.
Neymar and Messi ultimately left the club in 2023, for Al-Hilal and Inter Miami respectively, with Messi meeting Mbappe in the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as club teammates before that. While Mbappe struck a hat-trick in the final and provided a remarkable performance, he wasn’t able to add to his 2018 trophy while Messi finally got his hands on the iconic trophy.
The trio was ultimately completely broken up as Mbappe left on a free transfer to Real Madrid in 2024, as PSG look to reconstruct with fewer star names and an increased emphasis on homegrown talent.
