‘O Rei!!’ or ‘Oh no!!’ Neymar to Barcelona.

Taronish Elavia

3rd June 2013 | 9:53 PM

A whole lot of players in Brazil are talented. Just like in many countries, they are compared with the former greats and this places an immense load on their shoulders from a very young age. This turns most of them into dust, but some, (Xavi Hernandez being a prime example) thrive under the pressure like the remains of years gone by turning into diamonds.

 Neymar Messi

None of the Brazilian players in the past four years however, have gained as much mileage as Neymar. With his tuft of golden/white/black/he doesn’t even know what the original color is anymore, his charming smile and his tall thin frame, Neymar seems more like a Brazilian version of a male supermodel than a footballer. But throw a ball at him at any height, and he will take it down with the deftest of touches, shimmy around a few opponents and then produce a finish of great pleasure to the viewing public. The fans love him, the girls love him, the sponsors love him. But this is Brazil we’re talking about, a country where the level of defending is shabby enough to make an overweight (although no less skillful) Ronaldinho look like he’s better than Leo Messi.

Now of course, Neymar has agreed a move to FC Barcelona. After protracted negotiations, various underhand payments (I scoffed at the thirty million paid directly to the player himself) and third party ownership hoo-haa, his ‘dream move’ has finally come to fruition. The ‘Next Pele’, comparisons made because Neymar too was at Santos – has agreed to switch to Europe. The fact that he has scored over a hundred goals for the Peixe and led them to their most successful period since ‘O Rei’ himself speaks volumes. But the Brazilian league isn’t what it used to be anymore. Lots of players (Henrique, Kerrission, Geovanni being just a few) have come to Spain from Brazil and failed to make any sort of impact on the Blaugrana first team.

neymar in barca colors

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