Neymar didn't hold back when responding to Al Hilal manager Jorge Jesus after brutal comments about his fitness

Neymar has hit back at Al Hilal boss Jorge Jesus after the boss of the Saudi Pro League club criticised the Brazilian's fitness levels.

The 33-year-old has completed an emotional return to his first club Santos back in his homeland of Brazil.

The attacker came through the youth team ranks at Santos and scored 136 goals in 136 games for the club before moving to Barcelona in 2013 for €57.1m.

Over the next four seasons, Neymar went on to form a much vaunted attack alongside Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, which was dubbed 'MSN' for short and powered the Catalan side to two La Liga titles and the Champions League.

Neymar scored 105 goals in 186 games for Barca, but stunned the football world in 2017 when he became the new world record football transfer with a €222m move to Paris Saint-Germain after the French club paid the buyout clause in his Barcelona contract.

The attacker netted 118 goals in 173 games across the next six seasons as PSG continued their domination of French football with five Ligue 1 titles, but were unable to win the Champions League.

Neymar moved to Al-Hilal in 2023 for a reported €90m, but scored only once in seven games for the Saudi Pro League side.

Neymar has rejoined Santos. (Image: Getty)

Neymar's Al-Hilal deal was terminated by mutual consent in late January and he has since rejoined Santos and made his second debut for his first club.

His move followed comments by Al-Hilal head coach Jesus who claimed that Neymar could 'no longer perform at the level we are used to'.

And speaking at a press conference after rejoining Santos, Neymar responded and disagreed with Jesus' comments about his physical condition as he declared his readiness to play football games.

He said: "I'm ready to play. I had the training base, but I needed the games.

"Obviously I was very upset with Jorge Jesus' words when he said that I wasn't in the same condition as the rest of the team.

"In training I showed that I was fit to play, that I was in the same condition as the other players. Especially because when we did a collective training session, I was the one who made the decisions, I was the one who scored the goals.

"I don't even like to talk about it, to create controversy, but it's the reality. When Jorge Jesus made that statement, I knew that when I went on the pitch I would show something different.

"So, let's leave it at that. The pitch speaks. The pitch is the only place where I can defend myself."