Brazil's Unquestioned Star? Neymar's World Cup Race Against Time

While Ousmane Dembele was crowned the 2025 Ballon d'Or in the autumn months, Neymar was undergoing therapy for his third injury of the year - simultaneously engaging in an online poker tournament.

The 33-year-old football star ultimately finished as second place, collecting around £73,800 in tournament winnings.

It was some consolation on a day when he had to witness the player who once replaced him at Barcelona receive the award he had consistently dreamed to win.

After returning to his youth team Santos in the new year, the experienced attacker has failed to live up to expectations, attracting more attention for episodes like this than for his on-field performances.

His return home after 12 seasons away was meant to be a chance for him to regain his form and, most importantly, rekindle a love of football that seemed lost after frustrating spells with Paris St-Germain and the Saudi club.

Conversely, it has been widely disappointing for each stakeholder.

This reflects the situation that the primary concern being asked right now in Brazil is whether Neymar will make it to the upcoming global tournament.

He's against the clock.

On midweek, Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti revealed his squad for the forthcoming matches against South Korea and Japan and, once again, Neymar was absent.

"O Principe", as he was nicknamed when welcomed back at Santos in a nod toward the legend Pelé, is yet to play under Ancelotti, having been missing from the Selecao for two years.

He also remains an injury doubt for the November games, which, in the most pessimistic outlook, will leave him with just a pair of exhibition games in spring 2026 to demonstrate his worth to Ancelotti before the announcement of the definitive squad for the World Cup.

"But no one wins the World Cup alone. Putting all our expectations on him at the present time is problematic because he has difficulty to even play multiple matches in a row."

Not only has Neymar had repeated injury problems since his homecoming - he's missed 47% of Santos' matches this campaign - but, when he was able to play, he was a different to the player who during his zenith rivaled the Argentine maestro and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Of his several attacking returns so far, five have come against teams from lower tiers than Brazil's top flight - a goal and assist against a lower-league side, followed by a goal and two assists versus Inter de Limeira, all in the regional competition.

As Santos fight relegation in the Brazilian first tier, the number 10 no longer seems to be the game-changer he previously represented.

Nevertheless, Ancelotti has insisted that the forward has plenty of time to show he is prepared for the World Cup.

Ancelotti caused local controversy last month by allegedly attempting to shield Neymar, claiming the star had been excluded from the team over fitness concerns.

But then Neymar himself challenged the claim, saying he "was excluded for technical reasons; it has nothing to do with my fitness level."

In terms of popular view, it certainly didn't make it any better for Neymar.

Research from a leading polling institute found that the Brazilian public are split over whether Neymar should be selected for his fourth World Cup.

With his record tally, Neymar is Brazil's historical leading marksman, but he hasn't helped his case much with his conduct during matches either.

He seems more on edge than normal, having argued with fans on several occasions in venues - it occurred in successive games in mid-year.

The following month, the forward was reduced to crying after Santos endured a six-goal home defeat by Vasco da Gama - the heaviest defeat of his professional life.

When questioned by a journalist about his physical state in a game aftermath discussion, he also lost his patience: "This topic again, mate? I've answered this repeatedly already."

The same kind of question has been posed to his father and agent Neymar Sr as well.

"Neymar's plan was to remain for a limited period at Santos. For what? To recover. If Neymar was able to feature, so be it," he earlier stated, causing outrage among followers.

There's remaining optimism, however, that Neymar's best days aren't over and that he will be able to return to prominence the same way forward Ronaldo "Fenômeno" did in 2002 to overcome doubt and physical setbacks to guide Brazil to the championship trophy.

The Brazilian great observes parallels.

"It's an exaggeration from a small group who believe he's disregarding his physical recovery.

Those who have been in football recognize fully how difficult it is to recover from an setback and recover rhythm and confidence. He's right on track."

The Brazilian forward has a critical period ahead to demonstrate that he's not the prince who stepped away from greatness.