Let's say that there were other Brazilian/South American youngsters in the last couple of decades, who won everything on a club level there, but failed to leave their mark in Europe, never quite reached those previous heights. Ortega, touted as Maradona's heir back in the days, after winning Copa Libertadores with River find it extremely difficult to adapt to European football. Diego and Robinho are examples from the recent past, both had won Libertadores, regarded as incredibly talented players, but they as well won't be remembered for anything particular in Europe, rather than being a decent football players. We'll see what Neymar has to offer, but I'm far from impressed for the time being. His diving antics are catching the headlines, rather than a brilliant performances.
Neymar at 18yrs old was already the best player of his country (including players playing outside Brazil). He has always been much more complete than Diego and Robinho, at 18 and also today with 21.
Diego and Robinho were hoped to be WC players. Neymar clearly has potential to get the Ballon d'Or.
There's no comparison. His diving is annoying yes, but it's like a snowball - he gets beaten so bad, he dives to provoke the other players.
He's a genious, will be considered one of the best all time in little time. It's definitely NOT just hype.
At 21yrs, he has 46 games for Brazil's professional NT, with 27 goals, 19 assists. It's crazy.
I just think he really needs to get serious rest. He's been playing an absurd amount of games per year, getting beaten a lot. I think he's a bit washed up right now.
If you count his debut in professional stage at 16 and all the games for Brazil NT (professiona, U20, U18, U17, etc), he's been easily playing around 70 games a year since he was 17. He needs to take at least 1 month out. Not gonna happen though.
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