RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 30 — Nike said yesterday it had parted ways with Neymar, ending one of its most high-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 US sportswear giant, Josh Benedek, said in an email to AFP, without giving further details. 

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

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.

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It said 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.

Puma likewise did not immediately respond to questions about reports the company was in talks to sign him.

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

PSG paid €222 million (RM1.1 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, including sponsorship deals, at US$95.5 million (RM398 million). — AFP