Luiz Felipe Scolari has refuted claims that Neymar and Paulinho are struggling to adapt to European football with Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.
The duo are almost certain to start for Brazil this summer in the World Cup but Paulinho in particular has struggled to hold down a regular first team spot with Spurs, whilst Neymar has been heavily criticised recently.
The Brazil manager believes it is journalists, though, that insist the duo aren’t important members of their team.
In a BBC article by Sambafoot columnist Tim Vickery, Scolari was quoted as saying: “Who is doing the criticising?” wondered Luiz Felipe Scolari at an event in São Paulo last week. “Some people in other countries have an interest in this.
“If you Brazilians watch them play, you’ll see that they are important for their teams – they’re just not important for the journalists in the cities where they are playing.”
With Neymar injured and likely to be out for the rest of the club season it seems likely that his first year at Barcelona will be viewed as a failure.
Paulinho’s first year at Tottenham could be labeled a failure too, although he still has three games to try and end the campaign successfully.
