Neymar’s ‘NO’ to Chelsea a victory for Brazilian Football
It was a victory for Brazilian football and also for common sense when Brazilian sensation Neymar said no to the lure of the Russian Rubles of Chelsea.
The young prodigy is a sensational talent, a magnificent prospect who is sleek and has the skill to glide past a defender in the blink of an eye and on top of that he has Pandora’s Box of tricks that he puts to effective use day in and day out in and around the penalty area. He is a classy goal scorer and a vintage goal maker but the fact is that he is still raw. The top football competition that he has shown in is the State Championship of Sao Paolo and the Brazilian Cup. These are not the top quality football tournaments and leave much to be desired.
Every Brazilian from Pele to Robinho, who has made a name for himself in Europe, has had a smaller stint with a small club before moving to a European giant. Going to Chelsea only at the age of 18 was a serious risk for the player as he could have struggled to adapt to the English game and could have very little playing time or even worse find himself loaned out to a smaller club which would have had no stake in his development. That would surely have been a disaster and many a careers have gone aground on those rocks. Staying with Santos means that he will represent the club in Copa Libertadores and continue his development as a man and as a footballer until he is ready for Europe.
People have tried to portray his decision of staying as an ultimate act of patriotism but in fact he was all but gone such was the temptation for English football but he was persuaded and rightly so that his best interest at this time is to stay with Santos only and that will only increase his chances of success when he eventually does move abroad. Neymar’s agent Ribiero says that the prodigy will eventually be sold in two to three years time and it surely seems a realistic timescale. However, Santos president Luis Alvaro Ribiero will only be telling lies if he tells the fans that the young man will see out his five year contract at Santos that is as unlikely to happen as is the sun to rise from the west.
Freedom of contract and the lure of global market makes it impossible for the lesser likes of teams from countries such as Brazil, Argentina and other not-so-rich nations, so their basic aim is to produce them, nurture them for a few years and then sell them to use the money generated to improve the structure of their club and maintain a competitive squad. Alexander Pato is a prime example of this. AC Milan paid Internacional a whopping 22 million Euros for a 16 year old prodigy. The midfielder Sando, who recently joined Tottenham, is yet another such example. Internacional’s football and academy model was heavily influenced by Boca, who won the Copa Libertadores 4 times between 2000 and 2007. But their success came to an end, with the change of administration when they betrayed their own footballing ethos by re-signing Juan Roman Riquelme. This was a straight conflict of their guiding philosophy, the team spirit suffered by the presence of a superstar who despite not doing too much different on the pitch was earning way more than they were and that disrupted the harmony and the balance of the team. The same could be the problem with Santos as they might have to deal with such issues as well.
It is significant to note that the two most successful clubs in South America- Boca Juniors and Internacional- have been a success while using the same footballing ethos. The big name stars will eventually go to Europe which is surely a positive thing as Boca and Inter have successfully demonstrated over the past years so sooner or later Neymar will be setting the UEFA Champions League alight but perhaps it’s a big win for Brazilian football that he will first be making his mark in the Copa Libertadores.
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