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If the project, when Neymar decided to leave Barcelona two summers ago, was to free himself from the sectarian collectivism of the club, to come out of the shadow of Lionel Messi and to fulfill his destiny as the greatest footballer on the planet. it is fair to say that he still has some way to go. go.
For the second consecutive year, while Paris Saint-Germain was crushed prematurely in the Champions League, Neymar was not found. His fifth fragile metatarsal represented both absences; a talent he could have done without. Now he already wants to leave PSG, having failed to show up for the first day of pre-season training. Sports director Leonardo said that he could do it too, provided that there is "an offer that suits everyone".
But that's the thing. When your transfer has already broken football, where are you going from there? Neymar has never hidden his ambition to become the best player in the world, but Brazil's golden boy is now 27 – the critical age for an elite athlete; the moment when any lingering discussion about the potential stops and the conversation turns to the concept of inheritance.
It's almost worse that Brazil won the Copa America without him this summer, another major tournament for which he was ruled out after being barred in front of the centerpiece at home with an ankle ligament injury . The concept is simple: that of Titus Seleção could just be better as a collective without him.
It's a good job. Neymar still has a few years ahead of him because his legacy is not entirely positive. In fact, his career so far could become a telling tale for talented young athletes: a story about how uncontrolled narcissism can undermine the most glorious talent.
The writing may have remained etched on the screen since the 2014 World Cup, when Neymar – who had crowned the home tournament as his crowning glory – was injured in the quarterfinals. While lining up for the next match, his teammates were holding his shirt as he was dead rather than injuring his back. They quickly regained their appearance: one of the most humiliating defeats of sports history. Far from conquering the world, Neymar had managed to turn his country's fairy tale World Cup into a horror story about the idiocy of the cult of the individual.
In the space of a year, thankfully, it seemed to me that this indolent trend was a thing of the past. While the 2014/15 season was over, Neymar was imposed as the third of a great attack of all time, helping to propel Barcelona to a historic treble and becoming pretty much the only one winner of the Golden Ball. expect. He was voted in third place behind Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom were in the home straight at the top.
The following season, the Messi-Neymar-Suarez trident broke his own goal record – reaching a total of 131 absurd – en route to the national double, and the following year, Neymar did well when the situation was became difficult, dismissing Messi aside PSG to orchestrate this return. The season of his team would end up being disappointing, but for Neymar, the way to greatness was not so much ahead of him, he was gnawed by his quivering feet.
Then came the bifurcation on the road. A transfer of £ 194m, or £ 600,000 a week, in a super club on the rise – and the chance to become the centerpiece of a team that writes its own story – is an offer that few footballers could refuse. And in itself, Neymar's move to PSG was not crazy. What has happened since, however, has increasingly resembled fools taking control of asylum.
So far, Neymar's career at PSG has been a two-year reprimand for the idea that there is no bad publicity. Parisian reports include (among others): Neymar star status dividing the cloakroom in two; The president of PSG offers Edinson Cavani one million euros to allow Neymar to obtain penalties; Neymar's teammates are instructed not to attack him too hard in training; Neymar giving the symbolic finger to his disciplinary superior by forcing him to a sumptuous birthday party; and Neymar's contract with a € 375,000 "ethical bonus" clause to applaud fans after matches.
And since his arrival did not bring PSG closer to the Champions League, Neymar's position in the match began to deteriorate again. Being part of the best European team may have been better for Neymar's career than he thought.
On the one hand, a national hat-trick, the title of player of the year in Ligue 1, another title in 2018/19 and 51 goals in 58 matches is not so bad for a dismal failure. On the other hand, this list illustrates how much the PSG, with all their unlimited billions, has locked up. Their national titles have become inevitable to the point of losing their relevance, while their Holy Grail, the Champions League, is a tournament whose winners must rely on factors such as good timing, good luck, luck in the draw. spell and metatarsals intact at vital times. In other words, the PSG happened in a situation where the only trophy that counts is the one based on the impossible purchase. The problems of the first world and all that, but hope that those of Qatar Sports Investments will at least be able to laugh with irony.
As for Neymar, he is perhaps delighted that the duopoly Messi-Ronaldo has indeed lost his grip on the Ballon d'Or for the first time in eleven years. Rather than take over, he pbaded the vote from 3 to 12, while Luka Modric – a small unpretentious fish in a large pond – received the gong for his selfless play. If there is a moral, it is that the individual rewards of football are the byproduct of success, not the definition.
To add an extra insult, Neymar is no longer the hottest property on the planet. This title was claimed by his own teammate, Kylian Mbappe, another discreetly studious guy and a man who has spent the World Cup to be loved by the world of observers with a series of exciting offensive demonstrations. It is Mbappe who achieved the highest score in Ligue 1 last year; Mbappe who won the division's player of the year award.
On the other hand, Neymar's World Cup outings were full of nonsense and decidedly emotional: five games, two goals and a total of 14 minutes on the pitch. Its biggest impact has been to inspire a viral craze for people to film themselves on the ground. The lasting impression, after all the theatrical and empty exhibitionism, was that of an attention researcher with a complex of victims. "Neymar charmed Brazil but angered the world," writes the Brazilian newspaper O Globo after his team met their fate in the quarters. A global boredom: probably not the status that Neymar had imagined while he was entering the pinnacle of his career.
The question of whether all this is entirely the fault of Neymar himself, or simply the logical result when a man's self is yielded to such ridiculous measure, is questionable. Certainly, he does not help himself with his unwavering determination to make money out of all his difficulties. Shortly after the World Cup, he appeared on Brazilian television and opened the debate on the accusations of diving, his emotional "suffering" and his painful relations with the media. Then the big revelation: everything was an advertisement for razor blades.
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It's easy to forget that buried somewhere in the middle of all this, he's an incredibly talented footballer. the one who attracts the medals as a jam sandwich attracts ants and who could possibly end his career on a par with Pelé, Romario and Ronaldo.
Similarly, he is far from being the first footballer to choose to leave a successful team, nor is he the first to be motivated by fame, money and personal praise. . But he is perhaps the first to do everything so naked and for such obscure lucrative purposes.
Neymar quickly learns that profile and prestige are two very different things. The question for PSG now is whether they would be better with him or in another club.
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