Standing on the pitch at the Parc des Princes, flanked by Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and doing a few half-hearted keepy-uppies for the wall of cameras in front of him, Neymar mustn’t have been imagining quite what would unfold over the next 12 months. Since his unveiling at Paris Saint-Germain – following his record-breaking, Ballon D’Or-seeking £198 million transfer from Barcelona in August 2017 – the man once described as the world’s most marketable footballer has trodden a path fraught with vulnerability and disillusionment. On the evening of that presentation in Paris, he would have returned to his hotel dreaming of Champions League glory with Les Parisiens and envisioning captaining Brazil to victory at the World Cup in July. Neither trophy came, both slipping away in ignominious style. In the Champions League, PSG were dumped out in the round-of-16 by a far superior Real Madrid. And to sprinkle a little salt in Neymar’s wound, Cristiano Ronaldo, who he was hoping to usurp as the world’s best footballer, took centre-stage with two goals in the first leg and one in the second. At the World Cup in Russia, things were even worse. After recovering from ankle surgery just in time for the tournament, the Brazil star was the target of some disgracefully rough treatment in the two opening games. It was his reaction to the challenges – including theatrical rolls and pre-meditated post-match crying – that caught international attention, however. The child-like playfulness appeared to have been sucked from Neymar’s game and replaced with infantile bad temper. As former-national-team-striker-turned-pundit, Walter Casagrande said in a recent interview, “His behaviour was really bad. It made us a laughing stock all over the world.” Brazil at the World Cup should make people smile, of course. But not like that. For the rest of the summer, the rumours about the Brazilian leaving Paris just one year after he had joined grew louder by the day. And though a transfer did not come to pass, the gossip has not stopped circulating.