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Nike stated Saturday it had parted methods with Neymar, ending one in every of its most high-profile sponsorship offers a decade and a half after signing the star striker as a 13-year-old prodigy. “I can confirm Neymar is no longer a Nike athlete,” a spokesman for the US sportswear big, Josh Benedek, stated in an e mail to AFP, with out giving particulars. Media reviews stated the 28-year-old Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil talisman was in talks with Nike’s German rival Puma. Brazilian information website UOL stated Neymar and Nike had failed to succeed in a deal on how a lot cash he can be paid for renewing his contract.
It stated negotiations between the corporate and the footballer’s brokers had run into bother months in the past.
Neymar’s communications staff didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Puma likewise didn’t instantly reply to questions on reviews the corporate was in talks to signal him.
Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo stated Neymar’s final take care of Nike was an 11-year contract that was solely set to run out in 2022, price a complete $105 million.
Neymar, who’s recent off the heartbreak of narrowly shedding the Champions League ultimate to Bayern Munich, holds the document for the most costly soccer switch in historical past.
PSG paid 222 million euros to deliver him from Barcelona in 2017.
Forbes journal, which ranks him the world’s seventh highest-paid superstar, estimates his earnings for this yr at $95.5 million, together with endorsement offers.
Neymar signed his first take care of Nike as a youth standout at Brazilian facet Santos, which offered him to Barcelona in 2013.
With his skinny attractiveness, tattoos, ever-changing hairstyles and big following on social media, the participant quickly exploded onto the worldwide scene, dazzling the soccer world with the talents he honed taking part in five-a-side “futsal” on the imply streets of suburban Sao Paulo.
But his model, already blemished by tax fraud allegations over his murky switch to Barca, was badly dented final yr when a Brazilian girl accused him of raping her.
Nike expressed its “deep concern” on the time, however stood by the participant after police closed the case, citing a scarcity of proof.
Promoted
Neymar will nonetheless put on Nike attire on the pitch: the corporate sponsors each PSG and the Brazilian nationwide staff.
The firm sponsors most of the most iconic names in sports activities, together with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
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