A clumsy tackle from Colombia’s Juan Zúñiga's ended Neymar’s coveted World Cup journey. The 22 year old was left with a fractured vertebrae that left him unable to play in the semi-finals against Germany, a match in which he was sorely missed. The injury has ruled the Brazillian out for over a month and so Barcelona doctors have flown out to Brazil to check the extent of the injury for themselves to ensure their winger gets the best possible treatment.
Financially speaking, Juan Zúñiga's challenge on Neymar shouldn't prove too costly for La Liga side Barcelona, the length of the injury means that they will be receiving monetary compensation for Neymar’s salary, an established principle by FIFA for players injured in international competition. In accordance with FIFA rules, once a player has been injured for over 28 days due to an international competition, FIFA is required to pay part of the player’s club salary. So, on August 2, FIFA will begin paying Barcelona a fee of €13,972 per day until Neymar returns from his back injury.
At this point in time it is believed that Neymar could miss around six weeks of action, but Barcelona will benefit from the FIFA regulations. Barcelona are familiar with these regulations as the club also received monetary compensation when Victor Valdes was injured in an international competition last season. In total, if the timescale of the recovery is accurate then Barcelona will pocket an estimated €238,000 in compensation from FIFA but will start the season without the Brazillian.
The initial diagnosis was made by the CBF (Brazillian Football Federation) doctors and FC Barcelona’s medical services have concured with them and are unsurprisingly ensuring Neymar receives the best treatment. FC Barcelona doctors visited Neymar at the player’s home in Brazil this week and were pleased with the progress. Brazil team doctor José Luiz Runco has said that there should be no issues in Neymar resuming his career as normal once he regains fitness, a more positive outlook on the youngsters injury. The most recent news regarding Neymars injury continues along the positive angle. The Spanish club have said that "The injury is progressing very well” and from August 5th Neymar will return to Barcelona to continue his last stage of recovery. The higher-ups at Camp Nou are staying in constant contact with the Brazillian national team’s doctor in order to keep a close eye on Neymar’s recovery until he returns to Spain.