NIKE has parted ways with Neymar, ending one of its highest-profile sponsorship deals a decade and a half after signing the star striker as a 13-year-old prodigy.

“I can confirm Neymar is no longer a Nike athlete,” a spokesman for the American sportswear giant said in an email to AFP on Saturday, without giving details. 

Media reports said the 28-year-old Paris St-Germain and Brazil talisman was in talks with Nike’s German rival Puma.

“We generally do not comment on rumours,” a spokesman for Puma in Germany responded.

Brazilian news site UOL said Neymar and Nike had failed to reach a deal on how much money he would be paid for renewing his contract.

Negotiations between the company and the footballer’s agents had run into trouble months ago.

Neymar’s communications team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo said Neymar’s last deal with Nike was an 11-year contract that was set to expire in 2022, worth a total US$105 million (RM441 million).

Neymar, who is fresh off the heartbreak of narrowly losing the Champions League final to Bayern Munich, holds the record for the most expensive football transfer in history.

PSG paid €222 million (RM1.11 billion) to bring him from Barcelona in 2017.

Forbes magazine, which ranks him the world’s seventh highest-paid celebrity, estimates his earnings for this year at US$95.5 million, including endorsement deals. – AFP, August 31, 2020.