Neymar was supposed to be the successor to Messi Ronaldo the man set to become the king of football and with both of them moving to play the game outside of Europe it seemed Neymar's time had finally arrived right well the reality is HE2 was left to play in Saudi Arabia following a 90 million euro move to alhilal a move that has failed as the club are already looking to replace him in less than a year so what went wrong how did the man with the entire world at his feet and end up having people question
if he ever lived up to the hype well this is the curse of Neymar and how he may well be one of football's most unlucky players to understand how all this came into fruition we must first rewind to the start of his career Neymar's time at Santos is a tale of talent Triumph and trickery the Brazilian football landscape is renowned for producing prodigious talents that capture the hearts of a global audience I mean it's Why Real Madrid seemed to want to sign a preb best in Brazilian every summer as they hope to discover the next
Neymar in fact did you know that in 2006 Los Blancos offered the young boy a long-term contract at the club but Neymar was convinced by Santos to stay in Brazil to continue his development in his home country after all he had already cemented his position as possibly the most promising Brazilian Talent since Pelle himself and so Neymar's Journey began at Santos in the early 2000s when he continued with the club's Youth Academy as a promising youngster and as you'd expect from a young Brazilian forward he was blessed with natural flare immense dribbling impeccable ball control
and the ability to do things with the football that just simply don't seem possible because of his technical ability combined with his Knack of putting a smile on the face of those watching Neymar was naturally compared to another one of Brazil's most exciting players of all time Ronaldinho and so he made his first team debut for Santos in 2009 aged 17 going on to make history with with the club as he helped Santos clinch the campionato Pista title in 2010 ending an almost three deade long drought for the club this was only the beginning though
as in 2011 Neymar played a pivotal role in leading the club to its greatest Triumph in what felt like forever the kopa liberat Torres to put into perspective how talented Neymar was he had already become a household name around Europe even now in the world of social media most South American talent remain as a Hidden Gem until they complete their inevitable European move Neymar was different though as in 2011 he went viral around the world after he scored what even to this day is one of the most insane goals that I have ever seen which
rightfully won him the puskus award what made the goal even more symbolic was that it was scored against Ronaldinho's Flamingo it truly did feel like in that moment a torch had been passed down as like I mentioned Neymar's time at Santos was destined to be temporary in 2013 he made the move to European Giants Barcelona for 57 million EUR however an investigation into potential fraud a few years later found that the actual price was close to that of 83 million e which despite being an outrageous amount of money especially for the time would be the
cheapest transfer Neymar has ever made his time at Barcelona is a potion of perfection and problem whilst it was a trophy and success studied tenure it was also the beginning of his curse Neymar's chapter at the Catalan Club stands as a testament to his talent and the impact that he could have on the sport in an era of the game where each millimeter of movement is carefully crafted on a tactics board off the pitch Neymar felt like a breath of fresh air with his dazzling trickery and desire to make magic happen on it and boy
was it effective as Neymar ended up as one of the most iconic and devastating front three of all time MSN alongside lonel Messi and Lis Suarez the trios attacking prowess redefined modern football in the 409 games MSM played together they scored an incredible 344 goals and registered 157 assists these goals weren't just for nothing though as under Lis Enrique in the 20145 season they proved to the world that MSN was ready to take over Barcelona completed an historic treble That season the coopa Del re was won with an outstanding 3-1 victory over athletic BAU at
the camp new the La Liga title was secured after a close battle with Fierce Rivals Real Madrid and lastly Barcelona defeated Bayern Munich in the Champions League 5-3 on aggregate in the semis with both Neymar and Messi playing large Parts in the team's success propelling them into the final against Juventus in Berlin with Neymar scoring three goals and Messi two including the iconic boang leg breaker they went on to win the final and lifted the trophy to encapsulate their treble success thanks to goals from suarz rakitic and also Neymar with fans celebrating the trio immensely
but as you're about to find out this would be one of the final times he'd be celebrated by the fans together that season MSN scored a record 122 goals in all competitions scoring the most goals in a single season in Spanish football history that year Neymar have finished third in the race for the bendor losing out to you guessed it Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and this was the start of a problem for Neymar in his Everlasting Pursuit for his quest in securing the balandor he'd go on to have more success with the Catalan Club
winning more titles But as time went on something was clear Lionel Messi was the face of it all and I mean it's lonel Messi the god of Barcelona so what else can you really expect however the the career of a footballer is short-lived and every decision has to be carefully made as it can make or break everything and so Neymar in 2017 had made an extremely Brave gamble of leaving behind the glory of MSN to try and bask in the stardom of Neymar thus came Paris San jamain now in hindsight it's easy to say that
this transfer didn't go to plan however you could easily see why the proposal from Paris was one of promise for Neymar even now to the this day it is the most expensive transfer in football history amounting to an extortion at 222 million euros this signals psg's belief in Neymar to be the man to secure the one thing they had spent their lives chasing after the Champions League it also fulfilled Neymar's desire to be the man in the spotlight after all he quite literally lit up Paris with his announcement so again what went wrong for most
people Neymar's chapter at PSG stands out as a tale of unfulfilled promise and unfor seen challenges first of all when a club spends that amount of money on a player both they and the fans kind of have the right for their expectations to be matched however despite Neymar's undeniable Talent his journey was cursed by several factors that disrupted his trajectory one of the most significant challenges that played Neymar's time at PSG was a series of injuries that restricted him from consistently contributing on the pitch for example the one thing they bought him into to do
was win the Champions League yet in consecutive seasons he found himself out injured in the round of 16 stage to put into context just how bad his injury problems grew to become after six seasons at PSG he made only 173 appearances Julian Draxler who joined the club in January of 2017 after Neymar and has been on loan since 2022 has managed to play 198 games however Neymar wasn't the only Superstar they acquired in 2017 as with him also came kilan mbappe with these two in attack success was seemingly guaranteed but the curse continued after finally
reaching the long awaited Champions League final they lost to Bayern Munich 1- nil thanks to a goal from former PSG player Kingsley Coleman before you knew it PSG wanted a new star and so they turned their attention to the man Neymar had left B to escape from lonel Messi surely a front three this caliber couldn't fail right things just seemed to go from bad to worse a PSG as they entered one of the most toxic times in the club's recent history fans wanted Messi gone and they got their wish with him completing a transfer to
into Miami but then there was also mbappe whose future was uncertain after PSG placed him on the transfer list worried that he' already agreed a move to Real Madrid as a free agent when his contract expired and then Neymar things just continued to go from bad to worse for him as the group of PSG fans stood outside his house chanting and demanding that left the club protests got so bad that the club even had to up security at the training grounds and provide players with some outside of work the fans were fed up of the
club's board signing so-called overrated mercenaries for high prices in regards to the likes of Messi and Neymar and even demanded the club resign from their position due to a lack of vision every time their name was called out in the starting 11 fans would boo with each touch of the ball they would Jer the thing is Neymar didn't really help himself take for example their title win in 20178 it was Neymar's first one with the club and a way to show them that this was just the beginning he'd been out injured since February shock and
after PSG thumped Rivals Monaco 71 to win the title he was nowhere to be seen he didn't even turn up to the stadium in fact he was sat at home watching it orbe it in the background whilst he was focused playing online poker former France International Christoph dugery spoke out against Neymar for not taking part in the team's title celebrations stating how could Neymar not be there with his teammates with the title at stake they've given him the role of leader and he doesn't even want to share in the title win how is it possible
that PSG can accept that he's spitting on the club and I think it's outrageous this wasn't the only time though even as recent as 2023 he decided he had better things to do than turn up for the title celebration with his teammates once again he was injured this time since March but still did not show up for their title winning game against sturg this time rather than sat at home playing poker he went to the Monaco Grand Prix and so it was clear that something had to change the now 31-year-old was still comfortably one of
the best players in the world still and with both Messi and Ronaldo out of the spotlight now it was his chance to prove himself unfortunately his former club Barcelona was ridden with financial issues that restricted the transfer's possibility in an interview with ESPN when asked about Messi winning the World Cup Neymar revealed that he was happy for his former teammate but at the same time sad because whilst he experienced heaven with Argentina that same year both he and Messi had to live through hell with PSG and so despite being given the chance to be sent
to Stage like he' always wanted Neymar left Europe all together following a 90 million move to alhilal in the Saudi pro league but even that has ended terribly for him with his time being there a total nightmare less than a year into his 2-year deal Neymar was once again injured this ruled him out for the rest of the season indefinitely causing elhilow to look into temporarily suspending his registration having already fulfilled their quota of eight foreign Stars thus by taking Neymar off that list it opens up a window of opportunity for the club to seek
out his replacement unfortunately for Neymar despite proving to the world that he truly was one of the greats he never got the respect he deserved due to failing to fulfill psg's dream of Champions League Glory constant injury issues and probably the most unlucky of them all the timing of his career he was stuck between past and future as soon as Messi and Ronaldo's time came to an end everybody had already seemingly forgotten about Neymar and turned their attention to the newest exciting talents in football now whether or not Neymar returns to Europe in the future
following his 2-year deal in Saudi is yet to be seen but I truly do hope that he enjoys one final swans song on the biggest stage before we say goodbye to what has become a dying breed of footballer a pure Entertainer there is one thing I know for certain though and that is that it's terrifying to think what Neymar could have been had he not being plagued with injuries but if you want to learn more about the Journey of one of football's newest Superstars check out this one about earling Harland or this one and how
Pogba also failed to live up to the hype
