at his Peak he wasn't just an elite player he was tipped to become the next king of football there's been a lot of talk about how he's never fulfilled his potential but when it gets down to it just how good was Prime Neymar for Neymar his story starts in his native Brazil born on the 5th of February 1992 Neymar's rise to the top was almost Divine he came from a family that had to grind their Way to the Top just to survive the neighborhood he lived in sou Paulo was poor but Neymar didn't let his
circumstances affect him he was always trying to stay positive and see how he could help his family out he stayed positive all through and that's because he'd found something that would help him to become successful football at the age of 11 Neymar was one of the best players on the streets of Sal Paulo thanks to the guidance of his dad Namar senior who himself self was a former professional footballer back in the day Neymar took the training session seriously and as a result he got scouted by SOS at SOS Neymar continued to improve and pretty
soon the coaches were convinced he was going to become a star it wasn't just them though abroad Neymar's Talent had been attracting interest all around Real Madrid had sent Scouts to Brazil to watch him play and after a few weeks of studying him they were positive he was one for the future so they arranged the deal and Neymar had a potential chance to become a future star at the biggest European Club on the continent the trial was all set in Madrid Neymar went there with his Dad he played well enough to pass it and the
deal to secure the move to Madrid was done all that was left was for Neymar to sign but at the last minute he changed his mind Neymar wanted to go back to Santos and and asked the club to match Madrid's offer for him which they did and like that the deal to Real Madrid was off and he was back in Brazil on his return to Santos Neymar was a different animal the year was 2009 now and at 17 Neymar made his debut for the Santos Senior Team the start of something special in his debut season
with Santos Neymar managed 14 goals in 48 games for a 17-year-old to be registering double- digigit numbers and goals at the time this was a very impressive feat by the time 2010 rolled around Neymar had bagged 14 goals in 19 games the cion poista for SOS and 42 goals in 60 games for Santos That season Neymar was attracting serious interest all around now this wasn't a trial attempt both Chelsea and West Ham had genuine offers trying trying to sign him Neymar had even become so good he made his debut for the national team he surprisingly
didn't make the cut for Brazil's 2010 World Cup squad despite calls from the locals for him to get included in the team but perhaps his biggest performance that year came for Santos in the Copa libertadores now to understand just how huge the stuff Neymar did was here's the backstory behind it at the time SOS hadn't won the Copa libertadores since 1963 during the days of pale but the 2011 version of Neymar was about to change that he was special now Neymar scored six goals on route to the final and after a nil-nil draw in the
first leg of the final itself in the second leg in front of a home crowd with P watching Neymar sent Santos on their way to Victory his goal held the team to a 2-1 final win Neymar himself balled out in the competition nine goal contributions in 13 games and his serious form caught the eye of many teams abroad Real Madrid even came back wanting to sign him but ultimately Neymar chose to stay at Santos and continued to put on a show now this stunning goal here was so good that it won Neymar the puskus award
that year before him players like robinho and Ronaldinho had all come from Brazil City a league and made it to Europe as promising talents but Neymar was more than that he was an elite player still playing for Santos he made it to the bendor top 10 amazing it gets even better too Neymar won the 2011 South American footballer of the year that year by 2012 Neymar hit a truly unique Landmark on his 20th birthday Neymar scored this goal now what was special about it well it was the 100th goal of his career allow me to
rephrase that again Neymar was 20 years old playing in Brazil's Top Flight and he'd already backed a 100 career goals that season he hit 43 goals and 10 assists in 47 games voted as the South American footballer of the year for a second time beating the likes of Ronaldinho and by the time 2013 rolled around Neymar was primed to seize the stage with Brazil the first major tournament with the national team for Neymar and it was on home soil the 2013 FIFA confederations cup to say Neymar performed Beyond expectations in this tournament is an understatement
he was on a completely different level four man of the match Awards four goals and two assists in five games including a goal in the final versus a p Peak Spain team after this performance it was clear to both Neymar and his team that he wasn't going to remain at Santos for long now clubs were ready to go all out to get his signature but one Club managed to beat the rest at the end of the 20123 season and paid $57 million to make Neymar their latest acquisition Barcelona and when he immediately arrived the headlines
were clear while remained the biggest player at the club Neymar was the guy everyone believed would be what Messi was in the future Messi's first season for Barcelona was decent enough he managed 30 goal contributions in 41 games once his first season was over though Neymar's attention was back again with Brazil this time the expectation was even bigger Neymar was the poster boy of a Brazil team that was expected to go all the way on home soil at the World Cup Neymar delivered in his first game a goal versus Croatia to seal an opening day
3-1 win Neymar followed that up with a brace versus Cameroon he finished the group stage as Brazil's top scorer with four goals and helped the team in a nervy penalty shootout win versus Colombia in the round of 16 but at the quarterfinal stage just as his career was looking on the up Neymar's world came crashing down the tackle from Juan Zuniga injured his vertebrae and that was it for Neymar His World Cup dream was over Brazil managed to win the match 2 to one but in the semifinal the first match of the competition they were
playing without Neymar Brazil suffered its biggest defeat in World Cup history they lost 7 to1 to Germany Neymar's Focus was now on getting back to the level he was at Santos before leaving and recovering from his injury which he managed to and in the season that followed next Neymar became part of a trio that dominated European football in the 20145 season Barcelona won the treble of La Liga the Copa del Reay and the UEFA Champions League and Neymar played a starring role in that he had 22 goals and nine assists in 33 La Liga matches
seven goals and one assist in six Copa del Rey matches and in the Champions League his 10 goals in 12 matches me he finished as the joint top scorer in the competition alongside lonel Messi and hey Neymar even scored in the final the goal that effectively sealed the win for Barcelona together with Messi and Luis Suarez Neymar's role in the MSN was to become the exciting part of an attacking Trio Every one tuned in to watch week in and week out they won and Neymar continued to succeed both on a collective and individual level he
finished third in the balandor nominations for that year and in 2016 he captain in Brazil to history this goal in the men's Olympics football final versus Germany secured Brazil's first ever gold medal at the event 2 years on from that humiliating defeat versus Germany and with Neymar and the team they were now men's Olympic Champions the 201617 season was a crucial one for Neymar one that looking back at it now changed everything see Neymar up to this point was seen as part of that exciting attacking Trio but on an individual level at Barcelona he simply
couldn't escape lonel Messi's Shadow and he confirmed this himself in that epic Champions League match versus PSG after losing his first leg 4-0 Neymar sparked a Revival in the second leg he scored two goals and provided another two assists as Barca won 6 to1 and pulled off a miraculous comeback to turn around a 4-n deficit on the night anyone who watched this game knows Neymar was the obvious star of the show but when the headlines came out the next day on the front pages of the papers you can kind of guess what happened next yeah
Messi was everywhere hardly any real mention of Neymar at this point Neymar had a decision to make either stay at Barcelona and wait for his time to come or leave and establish himself at a new club eventually when PSG dropped the sporting project of making Neymar the face of the club's bid to become the major sporting force in Europe with a world record $222 million offer Neymar could resist and a few days later he was paris's latest attraction Neymar psg's new number 10 psg's latest Star the Liga uh was to become to him while La
Liga had become to Messi at least that was the idea and for a first season Neymar did all right 28 goals and 16 assists and 30 games won Liga uh in his first season and the French cup you'd have forgiven the Brazilians for expecting a lot more from Neymar heading into the 2018 World Cup but instead Neymar's tournament was in reality one big joke Brazil crashed out in the quarterfinals to Belgium Neymar managed just one goal all tournament long the memes came out in full force against him and from that point on Neymar's career hit
a decline Neymar spent six seasons at PSG and recorded 118 goals and 77 assists in 173 games on paper these are Sensational numbers but the reality is bar the 201920 co hit season Neymar's time at PSG wasn't what he or anyone thought it would be for Neymar the move was supposed to be the next step in securing the Balon door and being crowned as the best player in the world but instead what happened was a certain Killian mbapp came to the team and upstaged him he had so many injury problems his injury record looked unbelievable
even the man he'd ran away from at Barcelona became his teammate years later Neymar tried so many times to go back to Barcelona and force a move away from the club but it didn't happen in the end after the 2022 23 season Neymar said goodbye to PSG as the club's fourth all-time top scorer and was headed to Al Halal on a Mega Money deal but only a few weeks into his new club tragedy struck again Neymar ruptured his ACL and meniscus was ruled out for over a year and hasn't played for the club ever since
truth is guys Neymar's never really gotten the respect he deserves but in his Peak years 2011 to 2015 he was by far the most exciting young talent in the world on one hand Neymar achieved almost all his personal goals before leaving Europe he won the Champions League won the treble became Brazil's all-time top scorer and played in three World Cups but on the other hand his career could have been so much more and he knows it he's still a real one and that's because he subscribed to goal Zone
