The captain of the 1970 Brazil World Cup-winning squad, Carlos Alberto Torres, has called for protection for young star Neymar after the transfer debacle of the past couple of weeks and stated that the 21 year-old needs to shielded from negative attention.
Mystery surrounding Neymar’s move to Barcelona from Santos culminated in the resignation of the Spanish club’s president, Sandro Rosell, last week. It had been alleged that Rosell failed to declare payments of millions of pounds to Neymar’s family, in order to ensure his move to Catalonia.
And Torres has warned that in a World Cup year, Brazil’s talisman has to have his head on the field, not off it: “We have to do something to shield the boy. He has to be oblivious to these discussions now”, he told lancenet.com.
Now working for Brazil’s football association, Carlos Alberto Torres has first-hand experiences of the pressures of a World Cup- although very few can recall a home tournament, where levels of expectation mean that off-field distractions are simply not acceptable.
