Neymar will ‘come back stronger’ from ankle surgery

PARIS: Neymar promised to “come back stronger” after Paris Saint-Germain said on Monday the forward requires ankle surgery and will be out of action for three to four months.

The Brazilian, who injured his ankle on February 19 against Lille in Ligue 1, “has had several episodes of instability in his right ankle in recent years,” said the club, adding that its medical staff “recommended a ligament repair operation to avoid a major risk of recurrence”.

Neymar tweeted he would not be discouraged by his latest injury. “I’ll come back stronger,” he wrote with a praying hands emoji.

Qatar-owned PSG said Neymar would go under the knife in Doha “in the next few days” and said it would take “three to four months before he can return to training with the team”. That would appear to end any prospect of Neymar playing again this season, with the Ligue 1 season due to end on June 3 and the Champions League final, if PSG were to get there, a week later in Istanbul.

PSG, still waiting for a maiden Champions League title, will bid to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit in the last 16 against Bayern Munich in Germany on Wednesday. Neymar, who has scored 18 goals in all competitions for his club this season, was in fine form for the French champions before the World Cup break. But the 31-year-old has netted only three times in nine appearances since returning from Qatar, where he injured the same ankle playing for Brazil.