Brazil star Neymar has spoken about his difficult times at Paris Saint-Germain, describing how he and teammate Lionel Messi "lived through hell" at the French club.
Neymar became the world’s most expensive player following his €222m transfer to PSG in 2017, going on to win the Ligue 1 title four times during an injury-hit spell.
When he was joined by Messi in 2021, after the Argentine left Spanish giants Barcelona, it was hoped that big-spending PSG could finally make the leap to becoming European champions for the first time in the club's history.
But even the attacking trio of Neymar, Messi and Kylian Mbappe could not inspire the team to Champions League glory as PSG were knocked out in the last-16 by Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in successive campaigns.
During the 2022/23 season, both Neymar and Messi found themselves the target of fan fury with supporters protesting outside the Brazilian's home at one point.
That incident came at the same time as Messi being suspended by the club after taking an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia when he was supposed to train with his team following a 3-1 defeat at home to Lorient. He was jeered by PSG fans on his return to action.
After the season was over, both players had left the French capital – Messi for Major League Socccer club Inter Miami and Neymar to Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal.
In an interview with Globo, given in June but aired on Sunday, Neymar was asked about how he felt seeing his old Barcelona teammate lift the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar.
"I was very happy for the year he had, but at the same time very sad, because he lived both sides of the coin," said the 31-year-old, who has yet to appear for Al Hilal as he recovers from injury.
"He went to heaven with the Argentina team, won everything in recent years, and with Paris he lived hell, we lived through hell, both he and I.
"We get upset, because we're not there for nothing, we're there to do our best, [to] be champions, try to make history. That's why we started playing together again, we came together there so we could make history. Unfortunately, we didn't make it."
Neymar added that the criticism of Messi was partcularly out of order: “He’s a guy who trains, who fights, if he loses he gets angry and he was unfairly targeted, in my opinion."
Messi himself made statements about his "fractured" relationship with sections of PSG fans after his exit. The Argentine played his final game for the club in June but was again jeered despite helping PSG secure the Ligue 1 title once again and finishing the campaign with 16 goals and 16 assists.
“I think in the beginning it was something wonderful,” said Messi in an interview with beIN Sports. “But then some people started to treat me differently, a part of the Paris supporters.
“I think the vast majority still see me and treat me as they did at the beginning, but there was a fracture with a significant group of the Paris fans, which obviously wasn't my intention, far from it.
“It happened just as it had happened before with Mbappe, with Neymar. I know that's the way they behave.
“I'll take away with me the people who respected me, as I always respected everyone since I arrived and that's all.”
Profile Periscope Media
Founder: Smeetha Ghosh, one co-founder (anonymous)
Launch year: 2020
Employees: four – plans to add another 10 by July 2021
Financing stage: $250,000 bootstrap funding, approaching VC firms this year
Investors: Co-founders
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MATCH INFO
Hoffenheim v Liverpool
Uefa Champions League play-off, first leg
Location: Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
Kick-off: Tuesday, 10.45pm (UAE)
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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