The club announced on Friday that Santos striker Neymar has been diagnosed with a fresh leg muscle ailment, which is the most recent setback in his long-running battle to return to full health.

After being substituted out of Santos’ 2-0 win against Atletico Mineiro on Wednesday in the 34th minute, testing revealed that the 33-year-old had suffered injury to one of his hamstring muscles, the semimembranosus, according to Xinhua.

“We don’t have a diagnosis yet, so it’s still too early to give any firm answer,” Santos coach Cesar Sampaio said. “Now we really have to pray that it’s not something that will keep him out for a long time.”

Santos said in a statement posted on its official website that the most recent ailment was not a recurrence of an earlier issue.

Santos said, “The number 10 has already started treatment and… will continue muscle strengthening work,” but he did not provide a projected recovery period.

Since returning from a year-long absence due to a damaged anterior cruciate ligament in October, Neymar has battled a string of soft-tissue problems.

The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain player was called up to the national squad for World Cup qualifiers in March after a short resurgence in form, but he was subsequently pulled because of another muscle issue. Endrick, a young attacker for Real Madrid, took the place of the 33-year-old, who hasn’t played for Brazil since October 2023 due to a knee ailment.

“He will be reevaluated periodically for monitoring and new treatment definitions,” Santos said in the statement. “It was known that these complications could occur, due to the time of inactivity.”

Since rejoining Santos from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, Neymar has made eight appearances and scored three goals.