A Promise from a Neymar

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) player, Neymar. (Photo: Twitter/@PSG_Inside)

JAKARTA - Paris Saint-Germain player, Neymar, will undergo surgery to recover from an ankle injury. The operation will force him out of action for the next three to four months for treatment.

Neymar doesn't want to be sad because of his long absence. He actually promised to appear even stronger.

"I will come back stronger," he said, quoted by AFP via Antara, Tuesday, March 7.

The Brazilian injured his ankle on 19 February during a match against Lille in Ligue 1. The injury left him with some instability issues in his right ankle.

At that time, the 31-year-old player had to be stretchered off with an injured ankle in the second half of PSG's 4-3 French Premier League win over Lille.

PSG finally recommended ligament repair surgery to avoid injury and a big risk of recurrence.

Neymar will reportedly undergo surgery in Doha, Qatar, in the next few days, and says it will be three to four months before he can return to training with the team.

That appears to end the prospect of Neymar playing again this season, with the Ligue 1 season set to conclude on June 3 and the Champions League final a week later in Istanbul.

Neymar was brought in from Barcelona in 2017. He has scored 118 goals in 173 games for PSG.

However, his fitness is a concern. Neymar has missed more than 100 games through injury or suspension. In Ligue 1, he has played in just 49 per cent of PSG's Ligue 1 matches since his arrival (112 out of 228).

In his first season at PSG, a broken metatarsal ruled him out of the Champions League last 16 second leg against Real Madrid, which they lost.

He did not play again for his club that season and was in a race against time to be fit for Brazil at that year's World Cup in Russia. The following year another metatarsal injury kept him out of the round of 16 against Manchester United.