NEYMAR has backed his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Lionel Messi to return to red hot form this season.
Messi, 35, has scored four goals and assisted six in only seven games so far this season.
And old pal Neymar reckons the Argentinian forward has settled in the French captial.
He said: “I’ve known Leo for a long time. I was able to help him more on the pitch in training through speaking to him.
“It’s hard to make a change like that because he’d been in Barcelona for many years and now everything has changed for him and his family.
“It’s tough, but I think he’s doing better now and feels more at home.
READ MORE ON FOOTBALL
“I want him to enjoy it and for both of us to enjoy it together.
“We know we have a lot ahead of us and plenty of difficulties, but I’m sure we can get through them.”
Messi was controversially told to quit Barcelona last summer in a cost-cutting measure.
But after huge fanfare following his move to Paris, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner struggled to replicate his top form.
Most read in Football
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BETTING OFFER – GET £50 BACK AS CASH
He scored just 6 times in 26 domestic games for PSG.
Messi was on the pitch as his new club crashed out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage at the hands of his old rivals, Real Madrid.
And the Argentine – along with pal Neymar – was controversially booed every time he touched the ball during the 3-0 win over Bordeaux the weekend afterwards.
But now it seems the diminutive genius has turned things around.
PSG face Juventus in the Champions League opener on Tuesday night.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
