Neymar, a sensational and quite brilliant winger who has taken the world by storm since he first appeared on the football stage. Neymar has experienced a career of two halves, once at Santos and then transferred European and Spanish giants Barcelona. Many people underestimated Neymar when he was at Santos, critics often pointing out that the recognition he had acquired , he was not quite worthy of, because the league he was actively playing in was not quite as challenging as some of the better leagues in Europe. Nevertheless, Neymar was still the standout player and has always been a promising talent and potentially future world’s best footballer.
Santos Career:
Neymar first joined Santos in 2003 and made his debut at the raw age of 17 in 2009. Of course most of us would be expected to be in college or 6th form at this age but Neymar had other ideas. Neymar won instant recognition in his first season with Santos as he won Best Young Player of the league in 2009. The following year, his hot streak of accolades continued as he won Player of the Year and top scorer in the 2010 Copa do Brasil. In terms of the numbers, Neymar excelled as he finished 2010 with 42 goals in 60 games, which is quite a remarkable and extraordinary figure considering that in the same year both Messi and Ronaldo finished with 53 goals which shows Neymar was not that far of the mark. Taking his young age into account, he was actively competing with the world’s best and to some extent he was respectively keeping up. However, it is important to remember that by this time both Ronaldo and Messi had already won the Champions League. A trophy considered the most prestigious at club-level and to win one and perform consistently in one was the sign of a world class player. Neymar wasn’t able to participate in the Champions league because of the location of his league and because he had never played in a Champions League campaign, this casted doubt over his true abilities and whether he was really worthy of his recognition and global hype.Story at Barcelona so Far:
Neymar’s career at Barcelona started off with controversy and expectedly so, but nobody expected the sheer scale that it would grow to. Immediately after his transfer to Barcelona, rumours about his transfer fee and the circumstances in which Barcelona acquired his services grew. Neymar’s initial fee had been valued at €57.1 million which was later changed to €86.2 million after a thorough investigation into the transfer by the state prosecutor. The results, Barcelona were charged with tax fraud, an issue which has affected other Barcelona players such as Lionel Messi and his father.
Nonetheless this didn’t seem to affect Neymar’s performances on the pitch scoring 9 goals and assisting 8 which doesn’t exactly do justice for his consistent performances on the pitch. The next season (2014/15) would be the highlight of Neymar’s career so far as Neymar ended with 39 goals in all competitions falling short of the standards set by Ronaldo who netted 61 and Messi scoring 58. However, Neymar was able to match Messi and Ronaldo in terms of the Champions League top scorer as all 3 finished with a respective 10 goals. Neymar also went onto to win a continental treble; Champions League, La Liga and Copa Del Rey and also formed a deadly partnership dubbed, “MSN”, with his attacking trio counterparts, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi. For his performances in the 2014/15 campaign Neymar’s brilliant efforts were recognised as he was shortlisted for the 2015 Ballon d'Or prize.
In the current season (2015/16) when Messi succumbed to an unfortunate injury in the early stages of the season, many thought Barcelona would not cope as well without the work of the Argentinian master and for many who said that Neymar would forever be in the shadow of Messi, he certainly did prove them wrong. Neymar virtually carried Barcelona and excelled with the weight on his shoulders. In fact, when Neymar was leading Barcelona it was very hard to argue against the fact that Barcelona were playing just as well and continuing to excel in the absence of Messi.
International Stage:
Well on the international stage, Neymar has not disappointed. Regarded by Brazilian legend Pele as Brazil’s football icon and the face of the South America continent, there is not much to suggest otherwise. Neymar led Brazil to a Confederations Cup win in 2013 and his scintillating performances were rewarded greatly as he won the Golden Ball, which is the prize for the player of the tournament. The 2014 World Cup was thought to be Neymar’s time to shine and he did so but unfortunately an injury in the quarter finals saw Brazil lose their main attacking threat and this proved all too true as Brazil were eliminated in the semi-finals against Germany. The question still remains though, would Brazil have gone on to win the world cup had Neymar not been injured? Well the answer to that, we will never know. Nevertheless, Neymar still picked up the Bronze Boot as the tournament's third top goal scorer and was named in the World Cup All Star XI. It’s hard not to agree that Neymar was hard done by in the circumstance that he wasn’t awarded the Golden Ball. There really isn’t much evidence to suggest that Messi deserved the award ahead of Neymar or even James Rodriguez for that matter.
Achievements:
Neymar has achieved so much in short career and considering his young age of 24 he still has much to achieve in the future. His biggest achievement to date perhaps has been his shortlist in the Ballon d'Or in which expectedly, he finished 3rd to Ronaldo who came 2nd and Messi 1st respectively. Nevertheless, the reason this has been a significant achievement for him is because this is the platform that is going to motivate Neymar and I guarantee within the next 5 years he will win the Ballon d'Or and there is a plethora of evidence to suggest this. He is scoring more goals and assisting more goals than he had done at Santos and also he has embedded himself in the team philosophy which has made him a much better player in terms of decision making and assembling all that much need experience.
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