Neymar slams Mbappé: “He was jealous when Messi arrived at PSG”
Brazilian player also confessed the real reasons for leaving Barcelona and spoke about the Ballon d’Or
Neymar has been away from the pitch, but that doesn’t mean he’s not far from controversy. In the most recent episode, the (still) Al Hilal player spoke on Brazilian football legend Romário’s podcast and criticized Kylian Mbappé , his former teammate at PSG .
“I have my issues with Mbappé , we had a little argument, but he was fundamental for us when he arrived. I called him ‘Golden Boy’. I always played with him, I told him he was going to be one of the best. I always helped him, I spoke to him, he came to my house, we had dinner together…”, explained the Al Hilal player .
“We had a good partnership for a few years, but after Messi arrived , he [ Mbappé ] became a bit jealous. And then there were some arguments, a change in behaviour,” he said, criticising the Frenchman and the PSG squad : “It’s good to have egos, but you have to know that you can’t play alone. There were big egos almost everywhere, that can’t work. If no one runs and no one helps, it’s impossible to win anything.”
The arrival at Barça
Neymar , who played for Barcelona from 2013 to 2017, also spoke about his difficult start in Spain and recalled Messi ‘s help : «I arrived at Barcelona when I was 21 or 22 years old, I had just won the Confederations Cup against Spain. I didn’t feel confident enough to play there. I spent six months without being able to dribble past anyone and doing everything wrong.»
«There was a day when I was completely desperate. I left the game against Athletic at half-time very angry and started to cry. Then Messi knocked on the door and asked me why I was crying. I told him it was nothing. He said he was there to help me and that I should play the football I played at Santos , without pressure. He said I could count on him. After that, I started to arrive with more confidence, more motivated and things started to work out», recalled the Brazilian.
The reasons for leaving Catalonia
Finally, he confessed the real reasons for leaving Barcelona and heading to PSG : «My motivation was not to win individual awards. I didn’t think about it, to be honest. I didn’t leave Barça with the idea of being the best in the world. In my last week in Barcelona , Messi asked me: ‘Why are you leaving? Do you want to be the best in the world? I’m going to make you the best in the world’. But it wasn’t that, it was other personal things. Of course, financially, PSG was much better than Barcelona and there were Brazilians playing there [ Thiago Silva , Marquinhos, Daniel Alves and Lucas Moura ] and they were all my friends. I took a risk, but it wasn’t with the idea of being the best in the world.»
“My peak, my best moment was at PSG . If I had played like I did at PSG, I would have definitely won the Ballon d’Or. But I had those injuries, which ended up hurting me. Obviously, all players want to win the Ballon d’Or. But it’s not something that’s going to end my life,” he concluded.
