Let’s play a game. It’s called “Predict the next first time Ballon D’Or winner”. Robert Lewandowski, the best no 9 in the world obviously stands a chance. Then, there’s Thomas Muller who has a knack of influencing competitions at the highest level and is still young enough to improve. Then there’s the Juventus midfielder, Paul Pogba who it is believed will be the subject of the next stupid money transfer. My bet? Neymar. The Brazilian is undoubtedly the best player in the world outside the Ronaldo/Messi spectrum and he has proven it in the last year.
At the beginning of last season, there were doubts as to how the Brazilian wonderkid would handle World Cup disappointment. Let’s not forget that Neymar’s career right from teenagehood had been built towards that point. His life’s work was to ensure that the game’s richest culture gave a good account of itself as it hosted the world. Brazil made it to the semi’s but the team were viewed discreditably. Without him against Germany, they were shot to bits. There’s no guarantee that things would have gone differently but it’s worth noting that he’s probably the sole reason that Brazilian team made it so far. The boy has ice in his veins. To shut the haters up, he returned to the Euopean game and delivered his best season yet playing a part in that tridente that handed out so many defending lessons over the last 12 months.
The true beauty of Neymar lies not in the skills or goals: It comes through in the joy on his face as he fulfils Arsene Wenger’s essence of life: the transformation of all before us into art. It brings to mind his toothy countryman, Ronaldinho whose pieces of skill were never complete without smiles. It said “This isn’t work. It’s fun.” He’s Luis Suarez without the garra. He’s Arjen Robben with a full mop of hair and durable bones. Neymar is Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Romario and Rivaldo rolled into one.
He returned last season and delivered his true coming out performance to the world. Forget the 2013 Confederations Cup which was just an appetizer: something to give an idea of what he was capable of, he scored 10 goals in the Champions League- topping the goals chart with Messi and Ronaldo. In doing that, he became the first player to score in both ties of the Champions League quarter-final, both ties of the semi-final as well as the final. In La Liga, he scored 22 goals and laid on 7 goals. There was the underwhelming Copa but let’s chalk that to Brazil’s inadequacies. This season, he has taken it a notch higher- the number of touches on the ball averages 85 a game- an upturn by almost a third from last season. Close to double the number of shots. More dribbles and key passes. During Messi’s run in with the injury gods- he showed his worth effectively taking it upon himself to act as lynchpin. His performance in the Clasico underlined why he’s probably the best player in the world at the moment. He’s the second most prolific goalscorer and also the second most prolific assist provider.
Neymar is the youngest player on this list- 23. He’s been around so long it’s forgotten that he’s still so young. He has scored more goals (183) than Ronaldo (118) or even Messi (150) had at his age. He’s really just getting started.
- This profile was designed to be part of Culture Custodian’s Top 10 Players of 2015 feature.