You can tell any story about Neymar. He may be the world's most expensive players. He may be the world's most marketable sportsman. He may be the one with the weirdest haircut. He even may be an important part of a side that wins. But he would never get the respect Andrea Pirlo, Iker Casillas or Zinedine Zidane used to enjoy as players.
Why? Because he's a cry baby. He's not the one to lead the team. He's the one to cry the loudest. He was not satisfied with Santos. He was not satisfied with Barca. He is now not satisfied with PSG. He'd rather quarrel with Cavani rather than pull himself together and work hard.
This is really frustrating. Being a guy of extraordinary talent, he wastes it almost exclusively on finding an easy way. When he doesn't, he just plunges himself into depression.
When he joined Santos back in 2013, he was predicted to become world's greatest and finally eclipse not only his great Brazilian predecessors like Rivaldo and Ronaldo. Five years on, the hype is still there, the quality is not.
This is hard to say why. But probably the reason is he is interested in hype more than in football. He wants to look cool on Police posters than to win the World Cup.
That's the point in which he is different to many other greats. Messi just does not have any other life than on a football pitch. Cristiano might be self-obsessed, but football is absolutely the pinnacle of this obsession, the best and most important way for the Portuguese to express himself.
Football for Buffon is more than life. Football for Steven Gerrard is more than life. Football for Iceland national team is more than life. Can you tell the same about Neymar? Well, at least you wouldn't bet on it.
On the one hand, Neymar is one of the most talented guys in the game. But is he talented enough to cruise along his career at the 3rd gear? Because this is what he is doing at the moment for sure. Messi and CriRo7 do not allow themselves to shift down. Neymar seem not to shift up. He's just comfortable at the effort he makes at the moment. Probably this is how you behave if you have enough Intagram followers.
Still there should not be any doubt that Neymar is far away from top standards that true stardom sets for current stars. For him football is still a disco-party, where your most important task is to look great and to be liked by the girls.
It's not that difficult when you play for Santos, Barcelona or Brazil. Whether you score or not, you'll get great shots when all the cameras are pointing at you.
But if you drive at 3rd gear all the time instead of your max gear, 3rd gear becomes you max gear. You'll be beaten by everyone, and the only thing remaining would be to cry. Not because you couldn't do it, but because you could, but just wasted time on looking cool.
Comments