By the flavor of the text, you guys might get the idea, but I’ll remind you that the idea here is for the long run, not particular matches where a team manages a great comeback like the Istambul Miracle or that crazy Arsenal-Reading league match

Neymar gets fouled a lot, and after that foot injury, he became injury prone, he did become more fragile. Also, age is catching up with him, but there’s more to it.

When a player is younger, they are naturally more resistant and recover faster. Neymar isn’t a guy who skips practice, but he was never the guy to take it easy in his private life. That’s fine, everyone does whatever they want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, and, again, Neymar doesn’t slack off with the club. But when someone picks up an injury, said injury doesn’t take breaks. If you twist your ankle, you treat it, but it’s still hurt when you’re at home, when you go out, etc. That’s the thing with Neymar: slowing down to give his body time to get better when he isn’t obligated to was never his thing. That left a toll in his body as injuries accumulated, and now every now and then he’s missing games. And there’s still more to it.

Let’s talk about how Neymar gets fouled a lot. He wants that. He wants to have the ball as much as possible, and often prefers an individual challenge to passing the ball a teammate, even if the latter is the better option. Neymar actively seeks challenges. Being such a player, he should have always worked a bit differently when it comes to getting his body for blows, but he never did that work specifically.

And remember that the injuries on the list are just the ones that took him out of action for longer than 30 days. Neymar missed a lot of games with shorter bumps, bruises and pulled muscles over the past few years.

PS: Neymar definitely isn’t fat, but look at those cheeks. I mean, I’m sure your aunt would die to pinch those if she ever met him, right? He’s definitely losing track of how much mashed potatoes he should eat at the team lunch.