Neymar to return from injury in 'two to three weeks,' says Unai Emery

Neymar could be back in 'two to three weeks,' says Unai Emery

Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil forward Neymar will be back from injury "in two to three weeks," his manager Unai Emery said on Friday.

Neymar, who is crucial to Brazil's hopes at the World Cup which starts in Russia on June 14, suffered a fractured metatarsal on February 25 against Marseille and returned to Brazil for treatment.

He missed his club's second-leg defeat to Real Madrid on March 6, which knocked PSG out of the Champions League.

Brazil's national team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar performed surgery on March 3 and then estimated that Neymar would be out for "two-and-a-half to three months".

But Emery, speaking in Bordeaux where PSG face Monaco on Saturday in the French League Cup final, said: "I spoke with him this week, he's good, relaxed. We spoke about the final. He's going to follow the game."

Neymar has been in Brazil recovering from the injury

That initial "two-and-a-half to three months" time frame would have meant the end of Neymar's PSG season. But for the striker, who was injured during the last World Cup and missed Brazil's traumatic 7-1 semi-final loss to Germany, the objective was to be fully fit for this year's competition.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi visited Neymar's bedside in Brazil in mid-March, partly to quash rumours that the star would be leaving Paris a year after his high-profile arrival.

"The doctors aren't yet in a position to say exactly when he will return," Al-Khelaifi said at the time.