We all know the 20-year old Brazilian footballer, Neymar (Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior). This kid was in the Top 10 in voting for Ballon D’or last season and won the Feranc Puskas award for Goal of the Year, and is once again predicted to win it again this year. But there is one rather glaring problem – he is playing club football in Brazil for Santos, where the competition is nothing compared to the likes of the “big boys” in Europe. Sorry, but true.
As transfer windows have come and gone over the past three years, teams have tried to offer boatloads of money to “rescue” Neymar from the relative abyss of South American football, but he won’t budge! Some people applaud his lack of greed to leave his home country, but I feel reality is setting in, and those barriers he has set for himself are starting to fade away.
In the past, Neymar has been heavily linked to teams like, Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG and Barcelona, but those doors are closing, and the teams are getting tired of having their bids rejected. Chelsea turned to another young Brazilian talent, Oscar, and are very pleased with him. PSG also settled for yet another young Brazilian star, Lucas Moura. Barcelona and Real Madrid are so addicted to their stars (Messi and Ronaldo) that Neymar would have to settle for second best in his European triumph. Ahhh, ego is a funny thing.
credit: Amarhgil, Wiki CCNot only have teams already moved on past Neymar, but there is a new guy from Columbia that made the South American plunge to Europe, who we all know as Falcao (Radamel Falcao García). Everybody wants him now, while Neymar is still wasting away in Margaritatville. Either $#!^ or get off the pot.
My thoughts: Obviously everyone still would love to add Neymar, but now teams are no longer approaching him. Everyone is waiting for him to approach them. In the working world there is a stubborn way of earning a dollar. When a company needs you, they will come to you and negotiate for your services. But when you need a company and you approach them, they will take in consideration that you need them and obviously offer less. We don’t need MBA’s to realize that.
Neymar is only 20 years old and is not going to get better sitting in Brazil. Nothing against the country as it churns out new talent perpetually, but the league itself is far from an ideal situation for top talent. The only exposure he has really had outside of South America is the Olympics in Great Britain.
I remember when Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid. He said it was a boyhood dream to play for Madrid. During his debate about whether or not to leave, Luis Figo told him that a team like Madrid will only offer once and if he didn’t accept now, he may never get the offer again. Neymar is burning bridges and wasting talent in Brazil. Teams are spending all their money elsewhere, so he’d better pack his bags for Europe soon, because his value is going to start dropping.
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