Neymar Digging For Gold At Home
Premier League Champions Chelsea have failed to secure Brazilian youngster Neymar, who signed a five year contract with current club, Santos. The Blues had been chasing the Santos striker since the beginning of summer and had even increased their bid from £20m to £23m, but the 18 year old decided he did not want to leave just yet. Ancelotti had big plans for the youngster in an attempt to slowly replace the ageing squad at Chelsea, and this will be a big disappointment for the Italian.
After agreeing to sign the new deal with Santos, Neymar said in a press conference, “The final decision always rests with the player. My father always will want what is best for me. I talked to him and decided to stay. Money alone does not bring happiness. I'm happy here and I want to continue being so. It was a complicated decision, very difficult. But God gave us the wisdom and power to make the best decision. Now it's time to only think about Santos and winning more titles.”
The above statement by the Brazilian comes across as a little hypocritical, considering the fact that by agreeing to stay he’s earned himself a very very large pay raise, more than Ancelotti would have been willing to pay him. In addition to that, his buy-out clause has now risen to £37m, which would be beneficial to both player and club in the future. Some suggest that the pay raise was the sole reason Neymar stayed, and in fact, by pretending to be interested in a move to Europe, he was just scaring the management to agree to his demands.
Luis Alvardo, the Santos president went overboard with his comments after Neymar promised his future with Santos, “It was a complicated decision, very difficult. But God gave us the wisdom and power to make the best decision. Now it's time to only think about Santos and winning more titles.” Alvaro said Neymar had showed maturity beyond his years when he had agreed to stay. He applauded Neymar for his "courageous decision" to stay at Santos and said he believed that other young players should also follow in his footsteps and not get wooed by big European clubs.
Money had more to do with Neymar’s decision to stay than God, but Alvardo can be excused for being emotional at this joyous occasion. After all, his best player, the only player who can guide Santos to any silverware, has decided to stay. It hardly makes a difference as to his motives, but bringing God into the equation always makes a story more plausible and Alvardo needs all the help he can get, before Neymar realizes that he may have made the biggest mistakes in his life.
He told reporters, “We've built a different possibility; we no longer accept the idea that we're an underdeveloped nation always at the mercy of the powerful European clubs.” Alvardo did nicely to add the bit about the powerful European clubs, making them sound like the “big bad wolf”, but that is hardly the case. It is common knowledge that young, developing players get the best opportunity at European clubs; they have international stars for teammates and domestic and European competitions make for good exposure on the big stage.
Neymar might have secured a bigger pay check with his dramatic act, but it will be harmful to his career in the future. He had revealed earlier how he feared that if he went to Chelsea he would not get enough play time, because of competition from the Blues star strikers Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka. What sort of a player shies away from competition? Neymar should have been able to realize that Drogba and Anelka are both ageing players and don’t have too many years in them. Alvardo was wrong; Neymar is neither courageous, nor smart.
Tags: