NEYMAR IS BRAZIL’s fifth-highest scorer of all-time, had over 100 goals by his 20th birthday and plays for the best club team in the world, but yet to claim he was the best footballer in the world would have been deemed absurd. Until now.
For the first time in his career, Neymar has been shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or, the award given to the best footballer in the world, along with Ballon d’Or regulars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Although he is unlikely to win, when the ceremony takes place in Zurich, on 11 January, it seems that Neymar has finally shaken off the tag of being just a “YouTube footballer”, a player that displays outrageous bursts of skill at irregular intervals.
Most people would argue that if you showed their best bits of work in a 60-second clip, that they too would be putting in dazzling eye-catching performances.
Neymar who is only 23-years-old, is just 31 goals behind Brazil’s all-time record goalscorer, Pelé. Nonetheless, his game is much more than scoring goals.
At times, the forward can be irrepressible, defenders never know what he might do next, but it’s not just the abundance of skills that make him the player he is. He possess key characteristics that all great footballers need; he’s quick-minded, daring and determined.
This season he is on course to win La Liga’s ‘Pichichi’, the trophy given to the player who scored the most goals in La Liga.
Just like the Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo and Messi have dominated this trophy over the last few seasons.In fact, Diego Forlán was the last player other than Ronaldo and Messi to win the trophy, in 2009.
Neymar currently has 14 league goals, five ahead of Ronaldo and 10 ahead of Lionel Messi, who has suffered an inury-plagued season.
There was some concern that Barcelona may stutter without the injured Messi for a portion of this campaign, but Neymar has risen to the challenge, just like he has always done. He almost single-handedly dragged Brazil to World Cup success before picking up an injury against Colombia in the quarter-final, which ruled him out of the rest of the tournament.
Neymar has always played with a freedom to express himself which has endeared himself to fans worldwide. He has done this no matter what the circumstances, despite continually facing investigations over his transfer to Barcelona from Santos. But playing alongside Messi and Suarez, is no doubt, helping Neymar to prosper.
Working in unison, at times it feels like they are taking teams on by themselves, it’s important for them to score, but more important for all three to score.
This was evident as Messi conceded the opportunity to complete his hat-trick against Roma last week, instead allowing Neymar to take the penalty, to get the Brazilian the goal his performance deserved. Disappointingly, for him, his penalty was saved with Adriano scoring the follow-up.
Neymar, scored twice against Real Sociedad at the weekend, and mentioned that he “never played football to be the best player in the world” but with the continual aim of “getting better, to always surpass my goals, to always be better, play better, train better. To be the best in the world is the direct result of all of this work. If today I am being spoken of in such terms, it is a clear sign that what I am doing is working.”
When players such as Neymar come along, it doesn’t matter which team he plays for, it’s a victory for all football fans, because football needs great footballers, but probably more importantly, football needs great Brazilian footballers.
Opinion: what does the prospect of TV3 and RTÉ sharing sports rights mean for Irish fans?
5 reasons why the League of Ireland will be worse off without Richie Towell