Neymar has hit out at a report that claimed he had demanded Al-Hilal head coach Jorge Jesus resign, insisting on social media that the claims were ‘lies’.
The Brazilian made his long-awaited debut for Al-Hilal last week after his £78million move to the Saudi Pro League side, coming on for 27 minutes during their 6-1 victory against Al-Riyadh.
An ankle injury had kept him sidelined for six months with his last competitive league appearance coming for Paris Saint-Germain back in February during a 4-3 win against Lille. Neymar returned a goal and an assist during that match but was taken off via a stretcher after suffering the injury.
He was unable to play immediately after making the switch to Saudi Arabia but since his debut for Al-Hilal, the 31-year-old has got more minutes in the tank, making two appearances for the club – although was not named in the squad for their 1-0 King Cup Champions win against Al Jabalain on Monday.
But according to an Instagram account fiqueiputomesmo_, Neymar had been ‘fighting’ with the club’s manager, Jesus, and had ‘asked the club to sack the manager immediately.’
The former Barcelona and PSG superstar subsequently hit back at that claim on the social media platform, calling it ‘fake news’.
He wrote in response to the Instagram post: ‘Lies… Y’all got to stop believing these things, pages like this… with millions of followers you can’t keep posting fake news!
‘With all due respect in the world, I ask you to stop this. This is a lot of disrespect.’
Al-Hilal had reappointed the Portuguese coach earlier this summer, after he led them to Saudi Super Cup glory during the 2018-19 season.
Neymar arrived at his new club alongside former Premier League players, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Kalidou Koulibaly.
The side are yet to be beaten so far in the Saudi Pro League but sit second behind league rivals Al-Ittihad, having dropped points by drawing to Damac in their last outing and again to Al-Fayha earlier in the season.
Since making his debut, Neymar, who broke Pele’s record to become Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer during a 5-1 win against Bolivia earlier in September, has not found the back of the net so far for his new side, despite now having played 90 minutes in both of his previous outings.
Neves, meanwhile, scored the only goal of the match against Jabalain on Monday.
Al-Hilal have the chance to go top of the Saudi Pro League if they are victorious in their next match against Al-Shabab on Friday.
The 31-year-old (right) made his long-awaited debut for Al-Hilal last week, coming back from a long spell on the sidelines with injury
He has since played two more matches following his debut, but is yet to find the back of the net
