The reporter reported coldly On February 5, local time, Neymar, who ushered in his 33rd birthday, made his debut back to Santos. Twelve years ago, at the age of 21, he left Santos to pursue his dream of superstardom at Barcelona, setting a record for the transfer fee of a Brazilian player from home soil to join an overseas league. Twelve years later, at the age of 33, Neymar has returned to his roots. With the regret of not winning the Ballon d'Or and the Hercules Cup, it also brought new hope to Santos fans. More than 20,000 fans were on hand to witness Neymar's return debut, which also made Neymar's years at Santos a successful closed loop.

It was a Sao Paulo state league game, and Neymar, who had been absent for a long time, came off the bench at the start of the second half. Together with stoppage time, Neymar's return debut was 52 minutes. During that time, Neymar had seven shots on goal, one on target, three successful seven dribble attempts and five fouls (a game-high).

Although Neymar did not use a goal or assist as a congratulatory gift for his return debut, it was enough to thrill the Santos fans in attendance. After the game, Neymar was also named the best player of the game. This is Neymar's second appearance for Santos after 4,273 days. Santos officials also showed a video of Neymar's debut on March 7, 2009, which made people feel like they were away from home.

Neymar was thrilled to make his debut on his return, after all, this is the parent club that has developed him into a world-class superstar: "My love for Santos is beyond words. I was not happy with the Crescent in Riyadh in January, and when Santos extended an olive branch to me, I did not hesitate for a moment, and as soon as possible, I decided to return to Santos. Neymar also received other invitations at the time, including the Chicago Fire and Inter Miami in the major leagues. The latter has former Barcelona teammates such as Messi, Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, and Inter Miami even spent money on a "designated player" spot, which is widely considered by the media to pave the way for Neymar to join.

But in the end, it turned out that Neymar had only one option from the start - Santos. In order to return to Santos, Neymar gave up part of the salary due to him by Riyadh Crescent and only received $30 million to $40 million in compensation. Neymar signed a six-month contract with Santos with a fixed annual salary of $2 million, which is already the highest salary that Santos, who has just returned to the Brazilian league, can offer.

In addition, Santos also sold 90% of Neymar's image rights income, which is equivalent to 6 times the basic annual salary, which means that Neymar's annual income in Santos is at least $14 million, but only 1/11 of his Crescent in Riyadh. In addition, Neymar's father will also lead a consortium to buy Santos FC, and the Neymar family will own a small stake in Santos in the future.

Although Santos ceded the image rights income, the club's revenue from commercial sponsorships, box office and merchandise has grown by Neymar as a result. On the day of Neymar's debut, Santos signed two shirt sponsors, and the Havan retail chain became Santos's secondary jersey chest advertisement, which was printed below the advertiser's logo on the main chest. The previous contract for this sub-advertising space was for a period of 3 years and amounted to $10 million, and the value of Havan's contract was not disclosed, but the Brazilian media estimated that it would not be lower than the previous amount.

In addition, the image ambassador of a betting site that became the advertiser of Santos' main chest in April 2023 is Neymar, who sponsors Santos and has the strong support of the Neymar family. In addition to Havan, Loovi Seguros' company logo will be printed on the Santos men's and women's jersey numbers. Santos currently has eight shirt sponsors, and the club is optimistic that there will be more to come, at least during the São Paulo state league.

In addition to bringing more income to Santos, Neymar is more interested in winning trophies for Santos after returning to the game, and then returning to the Brazilian national team to participate in next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. On his debut with Santos, Neymar won six trophies for his parent team, including three consecutive titles in the São Paulo State League, as well as one each for the Copa do Brasil, Copa Libertadores and the Supercopa Sudamericana. Santos has been in a slump in recent years, winning the last major title in 2016 against the state of São Paulo, and last year he even struggled in the second division. Neymar's first target is to win the São Paulo state league this year, and while Santos is not the favourite, anything could be possible if Neymar can find his form.