Neymar, Nike part ways after 15 years

Rio de Janeiro

NIKE said on Saturday it had parted ways with Neymar, ending one of its most high-profile sponsorship deals 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 giant, Josh Benedek, said in an email to AFP, without giving details. Media reports said the 28-year-old Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil talisman was in talks with Nike's German rival Puma.

Brazilian news site UOL said Neymar and Nike had failed to reach a deal on how much money he would be paid for renewing his contract. Neymar's last deal with Nike was an 11-year contract that was to expire in 2022, worth a total US$105 million.

Neymar, who is fresh off the heartbreak of narrowly losing the Champions League final to Bayern Munich, holds the record for the most expensive football transfer in history. PSG paid 222 million euros (S$360 million) to bring him from Barcelona in 2017. Forbes magazine, which ranks him the world's seventh highest-paid celebrity, estimates his earnings for this year at US$95.5 million, including endorsement deals.

Neymar signed his first deal with Nike as a youth standout at Brazilian side Santos which sold him to Barcelona in 2013. But his brand, already blemished by tax fraud allegations over his murky transfer to Barca, was badly dented last year when a Brazilian woman accused him of raping her. Nike expressed its "deep concern" at the time, but stood by the player after police closed the case, citing a lack of evidence. AFP

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