It’s too soon to mention him in the same breath as Messi and Ronaldo, but there’s no denying this kid has talent. A hell of a lot of talent. I’m a big Neymar fan and I’ve enjoyed the Olympic football as it gives him a chance to showcase his talent. However, it’s clear he’s not there yet. He struggles against the big clubs and when marked out of the game he’s almost un-noticable. In my opinion this is down to one fact. He’s too big for the Brazilian league. It’s time for him to make a move, Barcelona beckons.
However, this won’t happen anytime soon. Santos have recently said he will not be moving until 2014, but I think that the main reason he’s still at home is his own choice. Why would he want to move at this point? The World Cup is coming to his country and for obvious reasons he wants to be a part of that and keep his place in the national side. He has the class to be in the starting line up of any team in the world, but at Santos he has the money and the fame that he would have to work for elsewhere.
Another issue is how big he is becoming. In such a short space of time his stature in world football has boomed. Neymar is the first player to propel his name through the internet. Previously, players such as Messi, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo have had to move away from South America to make their name. Neymar hasn’t had to. Pretty much everyone in world football knows the name Neymar. He’s becoming huge without having to test his talents properly.
He will come to Europe and I believe he will be a star. However, for whatever reason everyone’s expecting magical, world class things from him. It’s a dangerous mindset to have. Without any big reason to believe so, everyone’s dubbing him the next Messi, Pele or Maradona. He has the ability, the confidence and the drive to be so but football is a funny old game. A few poor performances and he will be slaughtered. He’s young, he’s class but he’s also not developed fully. Every game he plays will help his growth, but he cannot grow fully until he’s testing himself week in, week out in a top division. Neymar can live up to his hype, easily, but he needs to show his worth on the world stage on a regular basis. Until then, he’s still that unknown kid from Brazil.
Follow me on Twitter: @Challies11
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