“I go out when I can. I go out when it’s possible, when I know I don’t have training the next day. I won’t stop doing it. What’s the issue? I need to be held to account over what I do on the pitch, yes. But what I do outside?”
Neymar knows what real beauty is. He’s displayed it through his tricks and flicks for over a decade. His intemperate love for the fabric of football, however, is the reason why he has never reached, and may never reach, the heights of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. At 23, his teammate Kylian Mbappé has shown far more application in his nascent career to date. It speaks volumes that he so strongly pines for a move away from PSG and Neymar, a man who as recently as September he referred to as a “tramp.”
Since his £200m arrival in 2017, Neymar’s on field production has dropped significantly year on year. From an initial league outlay of 19 goals in 2017/18, last year he produced only nine. Charm is an essential tool for the attainment of real power and, while his €30m a year contract runs until 2025, he finds himself playing a tertiary role behind Mbappé and the newly-acquired Lionel Messi at PSG.
His meagre return of 3 league goals so far this season and no Champions League goals in the last calendar year do not reflect the statistics of a happy man. Having missed eight matchdays so far this season, it would be remiss to not question his lifestyle as a contributing factor. Speaking to Brazilian YouTube channel Fui Clear last year, Neymar expressed his displeasure with the criticism of his off-field antics:
“It’s a lack of respect when people say, “Oh, Neymar doesn’t look after himself, Neymar is this, Neymar is that. How do you last 12 years at the top without looking after yourself? Nobody takes that into account. I can look after myself. I have a physio and a personal coach with me almost 24 hours a day – to do what, nothing?”
At 30, it’s a fine line between accepting your fate and losing your spirit. With this in mind, the advice from Nasser Al-Khelaifi all the way down to his physio should perhaps be, to borrow a Kanye West lyric: “what you doing in the club on a Thursday?”
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino certainly seems to echo these sentiments. Asked about his summation of Neymar’s non-performance at Marseille earlier this season, he rather curtly responded “I am satisfied with what he did today”. The Argentinian has not been able to imprint his methodology at PSG in any way similar to that of his Spurs teams.
While his midfield and defence are doing their part, his star-studded front line do not exactly press from the front. It seems an awkward fit a year into the project, and while PSG’s top brass would like to see Zinédine Zidane in the hot seat, the former Galáctico seems to have his eyes firmly fixed on being the next head coach of Les Bleus.
For now at least, Neymar and co have their eyes fixed solely on Champions League glory, whether or not they have the balance in their team to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City or Real Madrid, who they face in the round of 16. Another year of Champions League mediocrity will surely see the departure of Mbappé to Real Madrid and, while Neymar appeared happy with the arrival of Messi in the summer, Messi’s recent seventh Ballon d’Or win must have had him seething with jealousy.
The Brazilian is acutely aware of his legacy and how he is to be perceived going forward, especially in his homeland. He spoke earlier this year about the possibility of Qatar being his last World Cup adventure for the national team: “I think it’s my last World Cup. I see it as my last because I don’t know if I have the strength of mind to deal with football any more. So I’ll do everything to turn up well, do everything to win with my country, to realise my greatest dream since I was little. And I hope I can do it.”
At this critical juncture of his career, Neymar can either stick or twist. It begs the question however, if Neymar abandons his happy-go-lucky lifestyle, does he lose his intrinsic charms as a player? We may soon find out.
Ciarán Brennan
This article is taken from the new GFFN 100 2021. The GFFN 100 ranks the top 100 players in French football over the past 12 months, see the full list and read all 100 profiles right here on GFFN.