NEYMAR CUT OVER NIKE PROBE

NEYMAR was dropped from his nike endorsement deal following the Brazil star’s refusal to cooperate with an investigation into sexual assault allegations made against him by one of their employees. eyebrows were raised when the Paris saint-Germain forward prematurely ended his 15-year association with the Us sportswear company without explanation in august 2020. neymar, 29, had been with the brand since the age of 13 and had two years left on his nike contract. a month after his surprise split it was then announced that neymar (right) had been snapped up by nike’s rivals Puma, agreeing a long-term partnership. it has now emerged that neymar had been subject of allegations, following an incident in 2016 that was reported in 2018 and which sparked the internal probe. nike confirmed the investigation proved inconclusive. though, in a statement, the company added: ‘nike ended its relationship with the athlete because he refused to cooperate in a good faith investigation of credible allegations of wrongdoing by an employee.’ a spokeswoman for neymar said: ‘he will vigorously defend himself against these baseless attacks in case any claim is presented — which did not happen so far.’ the split was also put down to commercial reasons. neymar’s deal with Puma is worth a world record £23million a year with further performance related incentives on top — around 50 per cent more than he received from nike. it also beat the sponsorship agreements of lionel Messi with adidas (£18m a year) and Cristiano ronaldo with nike (£15m a year). PsG declined to comment.