Neymar

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I believe the Saudi league, if they are willing to make a sustained effort over several years, will have to prove it can provide more to players than a huge paycheck before they start attracting more of them. They haven't poached only 30+ veterans but it's still the most recurrent profile, it seems.

I know some Euro broadcasters picked up the rights for highlights so that's a first step towards more visibility and legitimacy. They need to shed that stigma of being a league for pensioners and mercenaries.

I reckon if you can go there without hurting your chances to be picked by your national team and Saudi clubs can prove their worth in intercontinental games, you'll see younger players signing for that adventure. That means also raising the competitive floor of domestic players (Saudi already has some decent base to start from) and that will take a little longer, 5-10 years project at least.

The other scenario is Euro football collapsing financially but I think that's less likely : The UEFA and Saudi need one another and the money pumping will keep the bubble going.
 
RedRonaldo said:
What a waste of career. At 25 he is one of the very best talent in the world, and on upward trajectory to challenge Messi and Ronaldo for Ballon D'ors.

Then it all went wrong from there, moving to farmers league for world record fee heading into best part of his career, end up playing part time football there with his partying lifestyle. Then going to spend his early retirement years at Saudi at age 31.

He has made some good financial decisions though.
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He is a happy camper.
 
zaafi said:
In 5 years (or less), top players will probably be going to Saudi-Arabia in their mid-twenties. Just sad.
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Sergej Milinković-Savić moved there at 28 years old.

RedRonaldo said:
What a waste of career. At 25 he is one of the very best talent in the world, and on upward trajectory to challenge Messi and Ronaldo for Ballon D'ors.

Then it all went wrong from there, moving to farmers league for world record fee heading into best part of his career, end up playing part time football there with his partying lifestyle. Then going to spend his early retirement years at Saudi at age 31.

He has made some good financial decisions though.
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Team Neymar have wasted his professional career through pure greed. PSG though understandable, was such a bad footballing decision.

I really don't understand why PSG have struggled so much with all their stars, it's incredible.
 
Red4Life_#7 said:
Sergej Milinković-Savić moved there at 28 years old.


Team Neymar have wasted his professional career through pure greed. PSG though understandable, was such a bad footballing decision.

I really don't understand why PSG have struggled so much with all their stars, it's incredible.
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A really badly run club according to what I've read, allowing poor professionalism and egos to run wild in all aspects of the club. Verratti and Neymar two of the worst offenders, Neymar probably needed a more disciplined environment to get the best out of his career and party PSG wasn't the place for it.
 
Revan said:
Why is that sad?
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It promotes a country that consistently violate human rights.
It would mean less quality in European football, and most of us aren't going to watch football teams from Saudi-Arabia.
It would mean footballers will go where there is more money, rather than trying to reach their maximum potential.

It's just a strange thought - watching world class players in the future who will be playing in Saudi-Arabia and in a league where only 4 clubs can really compete. They will not be playing in the Champions League, but instead play in AFC Champions League.
 
Imagine having to follow the football league of a decaying backward monarchy with a dubious past because they plundered everyone else and killed competition everywhere through capital concentration.
I'm not making a deep, serious argument of whataboutism here
 
zaafi said:
It promotes a country that consistently violate human rights.
It would mean less quality in European football, and most of us aren't going to watch football teams from Saudi-Arabia.
It would mean footballers will go where there is more money, rather than trying to reach their maximum potential.

It's just a strange thought - watching world class players in the future who will be playing in Saudi-Arabia and in a league where only 4 clubs can really compete. They will not be playing in the Champions League, but instead play in AFC Champions League.
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Europe has no God given right to monopolize football. Since the dawn of time, players have been going to clubs that pay them most. Do you think that South American players join European clubs for any other reason than more money?

If that is what Saudi Arabia does and then players go there, so be it. If it becomes the best league in the world cause they spend most money, so be it. They are not doing anything else than the top European leagues have been doing for almost a century now.
 
Revan said:
Europe has no God given right to monopolize football. Since the dawn of time, players have been going to clubs that pay them most. Do you think that South American players join European clubs for any other reason than more money?

If that is what Saudi Arabia does and then players go there, so be it. If it becomes the best league in the world cause they spend most money, so be it. They are not doing anything else than the top European leagues have been doing for almost a century now.
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Of course South American players join European clubs for other reasons than money. They've grown up watching their idols play for their favorite clubs and have dreamt of it for years. It is the ultimate dream for a lot of them, especially Barcelona and Real Madrid, and it goes way beyond just money.

It is what it is. I won't be able to do anything with it, but I still think it's sad.
 
dinostar77 said:
If Woodward were still in charge, we'd be balls deep in getting this deal done.
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Still a class player but there are definitely concerns with his fitness. I don't buy into this lazy off the pitch circus image portrayed though
 
DJ_21 said:
He’s always been that type of person though. I don’t think he’s an ambition person. I think he’s greedy and all about the money.
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Think I read before he's just not that into football. Prefers NBA. He just happens to be hilariously good at it. He makes more money in a year than most will ever in a lifetime. He just doesnt' have the same desires and motivations that others want to project on to him.
 
No European club could afford him and the circus. Still seems like an incredible waste of talent and his career generally has been meh compared to what he could have done. Meh.
 
In a way its fitting to see him in Saudi. Had so much promise, which makes what he's done with his career all the more disappointing.
 
This guy has wasted his career. Moving to PSG and now the Saudi has completely ruined what could have been a Messi and Ronaldo competitor. It's honestly kinda depressing when you think about it.
 
el3mel said:
This guy has wasted his career. Moving to PSG and now the Saudi has completely ruined what could have been a Messi and Ronaldo competitor. It's honestly kinda depressing when you think about it.
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At least he had those years at Barca and won everything.
 
I'm not sure being a Barcelona or PL player those past six years would have made any difference for how his career is perceived when he was unavailable for half the games each season anyway.
 
That buyout clause was the death knell for his career in the end. A genuinely sad one. He had what was needed to be a true great of the game.
 
Maluco said:
That buyout clause was the death knell for his career in the end. A genuinely sad one. He had what was needed to be a true great of the game.
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No he did not. There was no desire to become a great of the game. His lifestyle choices cost him a lot. He should have done more at PSG. Over the same time frame, Mbappé played 100 more games and scored 100 more goals.

With that being said, farewell to a super talented artist.
 
Offside said:
At least he had those years at Barca and won everything.
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And could have achieved far more than that had he stayed at Barcelona, or chosen a better career option than PSG. He could have become a legend, but he ended up being just a "great" player at best.
 
el3mel said:
And could have achieved far more than that had he stayed at Barcelona, or chosen a better career option than PSG. He could have become a legend, but he ended up being just a "great" player at best.
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He had every right to win the Champions League with PSG but bottled the final against Bayern.

PSG are not to blame for his shortcomings
 
Nani Nana said:
He had every right to win the Champions League with PSG but bottled the final against Bayern.

PSG are not to blame for his shortcomings
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No one blamed PSG for anything.

It was the wrong move for his career at the point it happened.
 
Unquestionably brilliant player but can’t help but feel there could have been a higher and sustained level of dominance from him.
 
It is impossible to put his PSG move on a par with the Saudi transfer that's about to come.

PSG had ambition and the financial means to become the top club in Europe when he joined. They backed it up by signing Mbappé.

This move on the contrary almost sounds like retirement.
 
RedRonaldo said:
What a waste of career. At 25 he is one of the very best talent in the world, and on upward trajectory to challenge Messi and Ronaldo for Ballon D'ors.

Then it all went wrong from there, moving to farmers league for world record fee heading into best part of his career, end up playing part time football there with his partying lifestyle. Then going to spend his early retirement years at Saudi at age 31.

He has made some good financial decisions though.
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Yeah you're bang on with that. At the time I thought his move to PSG was just a necessary stepping stone to moving to Real Madrid 2 or 3 years later, given that Barca would never have sold him directly to them. As it's turned out, he's played in relative obscurity from that point, and if he does go to Saudi then he's just cementing the imagine that he's money focused. A real shame given his ability.
 
I think he’ll be largely forgotten in conversations 10-20 years from now when talking about the greats of this era. Maybe he just doesn’t have the drive to want to achieve more football wise, I guess you have to be wired a certain way and we assume that most pros are, but if he’s happy with huge pay check and a lifestyle more on his terms I guess it’s worked out well for him.
 
He's giving up on football if he goes there.

He's still an amazing player and he's quitting on himself.
 
He doesn't love football, probably just enjoys playing it.

He often says he never watches football when he is not playing.

When you see the incredible waste of talent Neymar is, you have to be thankful that Messi/Ronaldo wasn't wired the same. Their drives and dedication to the game has given us an era we probably wont see again in our lifetime.
 
Nani Nana said:
It is impossible to put his PSG move on a par with the Saudi transfer that's about to come.

PSG had ambition and the financial means to become the top club in Europe when he joined. They backed it up by signing Mbappé.

This move on the contrary almost sounds like retirement.
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Perfectly put.
 
Licha-Vidic said:
What do you mean mate?

You have a final to play.
Left wing position needs one player.
2015 Neymar or 2006 Dinho.

Who do you pick? Neymar for you??
I think that's an absurd decision
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If it's Ronaldinho from 2003 to 2006 I'd go with him.

I think the thing that's slightly absurd is acting as though Ronaldinho was a 10 and Neymar was a 5. For me if Ronaldinho was a 10, Neymar would be an 8.5 or a 9.
 
When PSG spent 220m€ on the Ney and then 150m€ on Mbappé I thought it was a pure power move and sunk cost.
Now there's talk the Saudi offer is already over 80m€ for the contract buyout of Neymar and it's not inconceivable Mbappé could be sold for 100m€+...
 
They are Manchester City, PSG, and Newcastle but on a national scale. Each time one of these teams has been nation-backed, many people have said they won't do this, they won't do that, but these clubs do. Money talks. It started with City won't be able to attract top talent because they had no history. Within a few years they were attracting top talent. Then it was they wouldn't be able to compete with the big European teams. They did. Then it was they wouldn't get the best manager, but they did. All the invisible barriers that have been put before them, they broke down. And what's more, they legitimized the concept of sports washing because now Newcastle are doing the same and no one really cares, and many people are actively rooting for them to succeed.

Sports washing works. We have seen it work on a club level, so why wouldn't it on a league level? If Saudi Arabia remains committed to growing its league by throwing money at it, then it is only a matter of time before they reach their goals. The only question is, what are the goals? To attract top talent in their prime? I think that will happen within years. To get the best managers? The same. What is the end goal here, to be accepted into the Champions League maybe? To drive a new Super League that would include Saudi teams? Who knows, but I think recent history shows that if the money is there the strategic goals will be met.
 
Now that he has chosen to go into early semi retirement, it can be concluded that his career is the most "what could have been" after R9.

Amongst currently active footballers he is second only to Messi wnen it comes to talent and with that he should have been a multi-ballond'or winner. But, poor choices off the field (the move to PSG), a party lifestyle, bad luck with injuries and on the field shenanigans ultimately means the promise remains unfulfilled.

As things stand, the only possible meaningful achievement in the future is with Brazil.
 
So soon, what a shame.
Semigoodlookin said:
They are Manchester City, PSG, and Newcastle but on a national scale. Each time one of these teams has been nation-backed, many people have said they won't do this, they won't do that, but these clubs do. Money talks. It started with City won't be able to attract top talent because they had no history. Within a few years they were attracting top talent. Then it was they wouldn't be able to compete with the big European teams. They did. Then it was they wouldn't get the best manager, but they did. All the invisible barriers that have been put before them, they broke down. And what's more, they legitimized the concept of sports washing because now Newcastle are doing the same and no one really cares, and many people are actively rooting for them to succeed.

Sports washing works. We have seen it work on a club level, so why wouldn't it on a league level? If Saudi Arabia remains committed to growing its league by throwing money at it, then it is only a matter of time before they reach their goals. The only question is, what are the goals? To attract top talent in their prime? I think that will happen within years. To get the best managers? The same. What is the end goal here, to be accepted into the Champions League maybe? To drive a new Super League that would include Saudi teams? Who knows, but I think recent history shows that if the money is there the strategic goals will be met.
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I suppose the key difference is that those European oil clubs grew their club in a very well established and storied ecosystem while the suadi are basically having it the other way around, they're trying to grow the ecosystem first(which is the only thing they can do to be fair.)

English league is more than a hundred years old, Paris is a Jewel of the world etc etc and the same doesn't really apply to Saudi, their fighting much more of an uphill battle than what City and psg were and that's not to mention how most European and South American players will probably prefer living in Europe than Saudi simply due to having much more of a cultural affinity for Europe and the language barrier (although this obviously may not apply to African players) and the draw of playing for Madrid, Juventus etc.

This'll really test the length that money is capable of pushing you to, let's see if the studies succeed where the Chinese failed.
 
RedStarUnited said:
He doesn't love football, probably just enjoys playing it.

He often says he never watches football when he is not playing.

When you see the incredible waste of talent Neymar is, you have to be thankful that Messi/Ronaldo wasn't wired the same. Their drives and dedication to the game has given us an era we probably wont see again in our lifetime.
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You've got to tip your hat off to Cristiano though. He isn't as naturally gifted (he is talented but not one of those generational talents like Messi or even Neymar) but his determination to maximise on what he has and more, and work ethic have resulted him in being considered one of the greatest ever. Neymar is the opposite. Supremely talented but likely to be forgotten in years to come unless he wins the world cup as the main protagonist.
 
Neymar is below Ronaldinho for me.

Both won only 2 La Ligas and 1 CL. That's about the sum of it in Europe.

But Ronaldinho also got a World Cup. He'll be remembered. Neymar won't.
 
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