Neymar Junior – Incredible Brazilian Talent
Among the dozens of talented Brazilian attackers in the recent decades, Neymar takes a special place. His talent is too obvious to doubt it, while the skills are mastered and allow the teams where he plays to win tight matches. So, this is the story of the most expensive player in football history, and we don’t know when and who will be able to break the record.
Birthday and early career
The birthday of Neymar Junior was at the beginning of 1992, on the fifth day of February. It happened in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, in the municipal area called Mogi das Cruzes. At the age of 11, he joined the academy of Sao Paulo, where he spent six years before his professional debut in 2009, being only 17. However, the success on the youth level in both club and national teams promised a good future for Neymar.
Read also: Kylian Mbappe – Is He The Most Talented French Footballer?
During four years in Brazil in the home team, Neymar helped the team to win all the trophies, including Copa Libertadores – the Champions League in America. Being only 19 years old, he was the most impactful player in the final and allowed the team to celebrate the continental success after the long pause of 48 years when legendary Pele helped the Black and Whites to lift the trophy. It was obvious that the youngster deserved the move to Europe and top football, scoring 107 goals in 177 games. Interestingly, Barcelona and Real were fighting for the signature of Joia (one of his nicknames).
Move to Barcelona and success in Europe
Joining Barca in 2013 was one of the most important steps for Neymar and the Catalonian club. With Messi and Suarez in the attacking line, the Blaugrana were almost unstoppable in Europe and Spain, winning a treble in 2015 with no chances for any European opponent.
Read also: Mohamed Salah – Egyptian Messi That Chases Argentinian One.
After such a triumph of Barcelona, its players gained as much respect as possible. Messi received another Ballon d’Or, while Neymar finished third after Ronaldo. A lot of experts talked about the Brazilian as the main contender for the global respect in near years, overcoming the success of Lionel and Cristiano. However, in the season 2015-2016, Barca couldn’t win the UCL trophy leaving this for Real Madrid; Suarez won the golden boot with 40 goals in La Liga. It meant that Joia was dropped out of the race for the Ballon d’Or even further than it was earlier. By the way, if you want more information about football players, subscribe to football blog updates and stay up to date.
Record but scandal move to PSG
All the tensions forced Neymar to think about transferring to another club, where he could get out of the shade of Messi. With such a mind in his head, Paris Saint-Germain came up with a generous offer. However, the French club wanted to avoid sanctions for the crucial 222 million euros transfer because of clausula that was in the contract of the Brazilian player. So, they asked Neymar to terminate the contract while giving this sum for paying clausula from other sources (sponsors) to avoid sanctions from FIFA. Nonetheless, everyone understood the situation, so Neymar became the most expensive player in history, which cost PSG 22 million euros in 2017.
Read also: Cristiano Ronaldo – Best Striker in Football History.
As the main target for Qatar sponsors from PSG has been and still remains the trophy of the Champions League, this transfer can be called as not successful. Due to injuries and overall impact, Kylian Mbappe looks better while they came during the same transfer window. Thus, the French attacker played 103 games in League 1 and scored 93 goals, while Neymar played only 84 and scored 61 goals. After the defeat to Real Madrid in the UCL playoffs in 2022, the dream of the most prestigious trophy remains at the same stage.
Read also: Andriy Shevchenko – Best Ukrainian Striker Ever.
Playstyle and net worth
With a height of 1.75 metres and a slim body, Neymar is a pretty fast and ultra skilful player. His dribbling is surely better than Messi or Ronaldo, as the Brazilian is able to keep the ball close to his feet and can use any dribbling move anytime (Messi mainly uses his jerks at speed, while Ronaldo is not so good at holding the ball in tight spaces). Neymar is also good at passing and finding his partners in tight spaces, usually keeping a lot of attention around him but then giving the ball to free partners.
The net worth of Neymar is the issue for discussion. With the annual income of about $80 million, sources are sure that the Brazilian has only 200 million dollars at his balance. However, if we simply add all his earnings, his net worth can be closer to $400 million. By the way, in you want to win more with huge bonuses, higher odds, and without risks – visit our betting sites for football rankings page. A fresh review of the most reliable offers for Indian bettors will be helpful for you.
