Neymar has revealed that Kylian Mbappe was “jealous” of Lionel Messi after the Argentine signed for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
Neymar made his comments in a podcast hosted by legendary Brazilian striker Romario.
Asked whether Mbappé, who joined Real Madrid this season, “is annoying”, Neymar said:“No, he is not. I have my things with him, we had a little fight, but he was fundamental for us when he arrived. I used to call him golden boy.
“I always played with him, said he was going to be one of the best. I always helped, talked to him, he came to my place, we had dinner together.
“We had some good years of partnership, but after Messi came he was a little jealous. He didn’t want to split me with anyone. And then there were some fights, a change in behavior.”
Both Neymar and Mbappe joined PSG in 2017 from Barcelona and AS Monaco, respectively.
Neymar also said that big egos affected the performances of PSG in big matches.
“It is good to have egos, but you have to know that you don’t play alone,” Neymar said.
“There needs to be another guy by your side. [Big] egos were almost everywhere, it can’t work. If nobody runs and nobody helps, it is impossible to win anything.”
On his decision to join Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid Neymar said that he has no regret.
“I don’t regret my choice to pick Barcelona over Real Madrid. I went with my heart there.
“I obviously wanted to play with Messi! Barça was the team I loved. I always watched, since the era of Ronaldinho I always said: I want to play there. It happened”.
“Those were intense days. It was 2 or 3 days where I wasn’t even training, just going from my house to the office to resolve this.
“It was Real Madrid’s people calling me from one side & Barcelona’s people calling me from the other. Both presidents were talking to me. I couldn’t rationalize. I imagined myself playing for both… But then my heart spoke louder. I ended up choosing Barcelona.”