Santos have endured a dreadful first half of the season in Brazil's Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, winning just four of their first 17 matches and sitting fourth from bottom in the table.
The Sao Paulo state giants face Bahia outfit Vitoria on Saturday (midnight kick-off, UK time) and will be without talismanic forward Neymar.
The 34-year-old suffered a calf injury against Coritiba 11 days ago and sat out against Gremio in the next match. It was reported on Thursday that Brazil's record goalscorer will be unavailable for club and country for two or three weeks, putting his World Cup 2026 schedule in doubt.
Neymar will miss Brazil's World Cup warm-up matches
Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti named the Santos star in his squad for the World Cup, where the Selecao will get their Group C campaign underway against Morocco at MetLife Stadium on Saturday, June 13.
The national team boss will be sweating over the availability of Neymar after the latest update, which was reported by BBC Sport's Michael Emons on Thursday afternoon.
"The 34-year-old has been ruled out for 'two to three weeks' with a calf injury," reports Emons.
"That would mean he will not play in the home friendly against Panama on Sunday and also against Egypt in a friendly in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, 6 June."
While Santos' medical team assured Brazil fans that Neymar would be ready to join the national team camp and participate fully, the Selecao's doctor outlined a different recovery schedule in a press conference.
"Neymar underwent all the medical tests, which concluded with an MRI scan revealing a grade two calf injury, not just swelling," revealed Rodrigo Lasmar. "He is expected to be cleared in two to three weeks."
The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward has been named in each of Brazil's last four World Cup squads, starting with World Cup 2014 on home soil.
He made three appearances as Brazil were eliminated from World Cup 2022 at the quarter-final stage by Croatia.
Neymar has already had to deal with some injury problems in 2026. He has started just eight of Santos' Serie A fixtures, scoring four times.
His next club fixture looks set to be three days after the World Cup final against Botafogo.
