FIFA’s recent list of the 23 contenders for the Ballon d’Or 2011 contains 22 players who ply their trade in Europe.
The majority are well-seasoned pros and experienced Champions League players. It is of course full of the familiar names: Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo et al, yet it could be argued that during 2011 the most successful and exciting candidate is the only non-European based player: Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior.
Love him or hate him, but at still 3 months shy of his 20th birthday there is little doubt that Neymar is an amazing, mesmerising talent.
Neymar’s fledging football career, like many of the Brazilian greats, began its life in Futsal.
Search the internet and you will find images of a slim, shaven headed 13 year old, dressed in an oversized football shirt, gliding past hapless opponents. The crowd are already chanting his name. The school’s football mums want to mother his innocence while the younger, overly-made up females are happy just screaming his name.
The skills, as opposed to the hairstyle, are instantly recognisable – as is the post-match interview grin in which a pubescent teenager talks of a destiny which will be controlled by God.
Neymar is bizarrely protecting his crew cut with a Ronaldinho Gaucho style faixa headband which proclaims he is ‘100% Jesus’. Another recognisable image is of Neymar on the floor, seemingly in pain, being attended to by an over-worked school bucket man.
From futsal, via a brief spell in junior football, to Santos, on to Brazilian and global superstar. The transitions were seamless. A Santos debut in 2009 at just 17 was followed by a debut goal a week later in just his second 2nd senior appearance. After Neymar’s performances at the 2009 U-17 World Cup both Pelé and Romário urged Dunga to take Neymar to the 2010 World Cup. They were backed by a 14,000 signature petition, but despite this huge pressure the ever pragmatic and cautious Dunga refused to pick Neymar leaving him out of not only the squad, but the stand-by list as well.
On 26 July 2010, just over a month after Brazil’s disappointing World Cup campaign had ended, Neymar was selected for Brazil for the first time. On 10 August 2010, he made his debut against the United States, aged just 18 years. It took him just 28 minutes to make his mark – opening the scoring with a headed goal.
An so to 2011 and Neymar is still playing football as though he is still in that futsal school gymnasium. However the slim, waif-like build is slowly being replaced by impressive upper body strength. It is a strength that has been seriously tested this season.
2011 has been a seriously busy year for the 19 year old…
To date, Neymar has competed in 62 senior games scoring 37 goals. As well as the São Paulo state championship, a host of friendlies for Brazil, the Brazilian Cup and the weekly grind of the Brazilian championship, there was Santos’ triumphant Copa Libertadores campaign and Brazil’s South American Youth championship win.
Squad rotation? Fear of burnout? Sorry that is for the Europeans.
Off the pitch Neymar seems to have appeared in every Brazilian magazine and on every Brazilian TV show, from wordy TV quiz show Mega Senha, to the cover of Brazil’s serious news magazine Epoca.
To top this, fatherhood also came his way and images of him cradling his new born boy Davi Lucca mirrored the teen dad images which frequently plague the Brazilian favela.
As a teen style icon Neymar is of course a media man’s dream. The Mohican hairstyle, the diamond stud earring and the oversized baseball cap (always turned to one side) is copied throughout Brazil from street kids in the favelas, to doctors’ sons in the richest private schools.
So, could Neymar add World Player of the Year 2011 to his growing list of accolades?
This time, probably not as he is still far from the finished article. Of course, the big money move to Europe will come. They will beef him up, whilst encouraging him to track back and keep possession.
He will compete against more savvy, streetwise defenders and find that European crowds and referees will be slightly colder and a lot less forgiving of some of his infamous theatricals and teen brat tantrums.
He will no doubt spend time kicking his heels on a substitute bench in Spain, England or Italy; dreaming of his adoring Brazilian public back home.
But as Neymar himself said, his destiny will be controlled by God and though he will no longer be the boy wonder 14 year-old futsal star, his destiny is a story that is just beginning…
The story so far…
Appearances:
Santos: 155 (79 goals)
Brazil: 15 (8 goals)
Honours
Santos: Copa do Brasil : 2010; Campeonato Paulista: 2010, 2011; Copa Libertadores: 2011/
Brazilian National team: South American Youth Championship 2011, Superclásico de las Américas 2011
