Three Possible Destinations for Neymar With Santos Contract Set to Expire

“Neymar 10” printed on a Brazil jersey – Source: Unsplash

Neymar’s Santos homecoming was meant to be glorious. After two injury-hit years with Al Hilal, a move back to the Brazilian superstar’s boyhood club was supposed to get the Selecao’s main man back to full fitness ahead of next summer’s FIFA World Cup. Instead, however, the curtain looks set to close on a tragic return.

Statistically insignificant on the pitch, visibly out of rhythm, and mired in a cascade of injuries, Neymar’s second spell in Vila Belmiro has embodied frustration and futility. He’s missed more than 50% of league matches, and when he has played, the former Barcelona superstar has barely made an impression.

Neymar’s Santos Homecoming Hits New Low

The story reached a boiling point in the recent defeat to title-chasing Flamengo in the Maracanã, the spiritual home of Brazilian football. Neymar started for the first time in two months; however, the captain looked like a shadow of the player who once lit up Champions League defences on the regular. With Santos 3-0 down and their talisman looking like a spectator, boss Carille had seen enough.

Neymar trudged off in the 86th minute, and the Flamengo faithful wasted no time in twisting the knife: jeers raining down, venomous chants, lots of unpleasantness. It got worse. Neymar, incensed, headed down the tunnel without a glance back. To make matters worse, his teammates immediately scored two quick-fire goals—suddenly electric, suddenly incisive, immediately sharper without their marquee No.10. For the first time, even diehards questioned if the legend’s aura had dimmed for good.

With his contract entering its final months and his World Cup hopes shattered by injury and form, Neymar’s next step carries seismic implications. Online betting sites consider the Selecao contenders in North America next summer, with or without their iconic attacker. The latest live betting odds at Bovada make them a 7/1 fourth favourite, just behind 9/2 frontrunners Spain and 13/2 joint second favorites England and France.

Neymar, though, would like to somehow force his way onto the plane. In order to do that, he will likely need a club to take a chance on him upon the expiry of his contract. Luckily, three teams are thought to be interested.

Inter Miami

Picture the pastel pink floodlights, palm trees swaying on Biscayne Bay, crowds swelling in anticipation. This is the Inter Miami blueprint: seductive, ambitious, a magnet for global icons.

David Beckham’s franchise has not tiptoed around its intent — Lionel Messi has already extended his stay, ensuring Miami’s relevance and revenue through at least his 40th birthday. Intrigue intensifies with Luis Suárez reunited, Busquets and Jordi Alba’s final bows, and concrete contact with Neymar’s representatives. The “MSN” trio reformed in Florida? For every nostalgic Barça fan, it’s pure theater.

Yet this isn’t just about nostalgia. Inter Miami are the reigning Supporters’ Shield holders and are currently on the hunt for their first-ever MLS Cup title, with the playoffs well underway. For Neymar, Miami offers a sanctuary from the bruising rigors of Europe. MLS is physically softer, the schedule lighter. Stateside, the narrative shifts: here, he is not a savior expected to carry a club’s cultural destiny, but a franchise player in a winning, collaborative environment, free to rediscover his joy and creativity.

His recovery from ACL surgery and recurring muscle strains has taken its toll. Playing 25-28 games a season, rather than 50-plus, extends his career. The party lifestyle wouldn’t hurt either, but make no mistake — the 2026 World Cup, set in North America, is his North Star, and Inter Miami may be the perfect staging ground for one last global flourish.

Inter Milan

There was a time when Neymar danced through European defenses with balletic ease. Is a return to the crucible of elite football, and one of its grandest theaters, on the cards? According to Fabrizio Romano, Inter Milan has made exploratory contact, keenly aware that their golden window may shut quickly.

Manager Christian Chivu is evolving the Nerazzurri into a counterattacking juggernaut — high press, lethal in transition, and defined by the relentless movement of Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram. Neymar’s creative impulses, even in decline, remain formidable. Of all players over 30, he still ranks among the elite for progressive carries and successful take-ons. For a front line that craves unpredictability, he is a natural fit.

There’s risk, of course. Even for giants, Neymar’s wage bill is formidable, and injuries have ravaged his last three campaigns. Inter’s Oaktree Capital backing brings muscle, but fiscal prudence must prevail — a creative deal or pay cut may be needed. Yet the temptation is intoxicating: the idea of Champions League nights under the San Siro lights, the roar of 75,000 demanding another miraculous run to a third final in four seasons.

For Neymar, it is a final gauntlet — to prove he can still shape title races, to return to Seleção reckoning, to silence the critics who claim his best days are gone.

Napoli

Rarely does a town idolize its footballers like Naples does — and rarely does any club require charisma as desperately as Napoli in the post-Osimhen era. This summer saw a frenzy: Victor Osimhen out, Kevin De Bruyne and Rasmus Hojlund in. But ask the ultras, and you’ll hear a familiar refrain: they crave magic, not just machinery.

Would it work? Napoli is Antonio Conte territory now: pressing, system-obsessed, and prolific, but always craving a flash of Diego Maradona’s divine chaos. Neymar is, by football logic, both the antidote and the risk. He brings improvisation, vision, the willingness to try the extraordinary — but also a temperament and work-rate that have infuriated more conservative managers. Conte is notorious: there is no star above the team. For Neymar, adaptation would be essential.

The narrative glistens with drama. Will Naples get a showman who resurrects the romance of Diego, or an expensive sideshow — a superstar eclipsed by the weight of expectation? For Napoli, and perhaps for Neymar himself, this is the crossroads moment. If ever there was a place to remind the world of his genius, to light up evenings along the bay as Maradona once did, it is here and now.