Brazil forward Neymar said on Saturday that he would like to play again with Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi in the future.
The two are good friends and played together at both Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, but they will not face off in this summer’s Copa América after the Brazil international suffered a knee injury last October.
Since signing Messi in the summer of 2023, Miami has added his former Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez to the squad.
Asked about Messi bringing his friends to Inter Miami and if he would like to play with him again, Neymar told ESPN Argentina: “Hopefully we can play together again.
Leo is a great person, everyone knows him in football and I think he is very happy and if he is happy, I am too.” The Al Hilal forward, who is not expected to return to action until August, attended the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday.
Neymar and Messi achieved league titles during their tenure at PSG but fell short of securing Champions League glory for the club. The 32-year-old Neymar has described their time together at PSG as tumultuous, stating that they “endured hell.”
Both players departed the club in 2023, with Messi moving to Major League Soccer (MLS) and Neymar signing a two-year deal with Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League.
Neymar, Brazil’s highest-scoring player of all time, had previously shown interest in playing in the MLS while still at PSG.
Asked last year if he would like to retire in Brazil, Neymar, 30, said on the Fenômenos podcast: “I don’t know. I have some doubts about that. I don’t know if I’ll play in Brazil again.
“I’d love to play in the U.S., actually. I’d love to play there, at least for a season.”