Neymar Next in Line?

It seems unthinkable to imagine at this present time, but there will come a time when the Messi-Ronaldo dominance on football will come to an end. Their duopoly on the Ballon D’or will cease, and somebody else will take over as the best player in the world. But who? Ibrahimovic? You would think at the age of 33 he is past his peak, and he is only playing in the French league. Suarez? Is there a permanent black mark against his name due to past indiscretions? Aguero? Can he stay fit for a long enough period of time? I believe Messi’s successor is currently playing with him.

At just 23 years old, Neymar already has 174 goals in 294 appearances at club level, and one Puskas Award – stats that Joey Barton can only dream of. Admittedly the majority of them came in the Brazilian league which is of a lesser standard. However when you factor in that he was a teenager for most of the time that he was playing there, it’s still damn impressive. At international level he is practically a deity to the Brazilian people, having scored 42 goals in 60 games. Nobody can accuse him of failing to perform at major tournaments either, as proven by his 4 goals at the Confederations Cup and World Cup 2014. If Zuniga hadn’t gone all Mortal Kombat on his back, who knows how far Brazil would’ve gone in the summer?

Despite all this obvious potential, Neymar won’t be considered the best player in the world any time soon in my opinion for one simple reason: he plays in the same team as Lionel Messi. Just look at Luis Suarez. In spite of his many many many many many many character faults, the Suarez of 2013/14 was ridiculous. Probably the 3^rd best player in the world. Even though Daniel Sturridge chipped in with his fair share, Suarez was the man in that Liverpool team. One season on and the once unplayable Suarez is nowhere near the same player, thanks in part to the fact that he is playing out of position to accommodate Messi.

Messi, Xavi and Iniesta aside, Ballon D’or winners hardly ever have their teammates finish in the top 3. This shows how important being the star in a team is to a player becoming the best. Currently Neymar is probably in the best form of his career, yet when people watch Barcelona the eye is naturally drawn to Messi. In a game of one-upmanship, Messi is always going to come out on top. Neymar could single-handedly infiltrate and take down ISIS, and Messi would probably cure cancer.

If Neymar were to be put into a team where he was the main man, I believe it could be a different story. After all it happens at international level. Neymar is the undoubted star in possibly the most un-Brazilian

team that I’ve seen in my lifetime. His competition is the likes of Fred for goodness sake so you should hope so. It’s a pressure that he obviously thrives on. It doesn't
seem to faze him at all. He seems to play better if anything else. That’s the effect that being THE man can have on him.

Neymar has every chance of becoming the best. One would hope he does it before Messi and Ronaldo fully decline, so the achievement would be on his own merit. If he stays at Barca then he may have to pray that something comes from Messi’s tax evasion investigation. Only when Messi is in jail will Neymar be the main man at Barca. Not even the brightest spark can shine in Messi’s shadow.