On the 7th of March 2009, whilst war raged in the Middle East and the global financial system was turned on its head the most important event of the day was the debut of Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior against Oeste Futebol club. Following an electric performance after being brought on in the 60th minute. Encapsulating the spirit of footballing brilliance and arrogance he embodied he said after his first game “Football is a mixture of seriousness and fun. I have to keep playing the same way because my time will come”. On hitting the crossbar on his debut he said “It was bad luck! The ball took the crossbar, but next time it will come.” How right he was, his time at Santos would make him the most anticipated Brazillian wonderkid since Ronaldinho scoring 72 goals and assisting 37 times. This commanded an at the time astronomical fee for a player in Brazil that has become almost as controversial as the mercurial player himself.

 Neymar’s 2013 transfer to Barcelona was reported by the club at the time as being 57.1 million euros when it would emerge almost 10 years later in a court case that the fee was actually 88.2 million euros. Charges that were later dropped were brought against two former Barca Presidents and Neymar. Despite the charges being dropped it is very representative of the off-field issues of Both Neymar and Barcelona.  The latter not so long ago was finding difficulty simply registering players. 

Despite the later controversy of his transfer fee Neymar’s time at Barca would be an incredible success. Playing alongside Messi And Suarez, Neymar would be the kind of player young boys across the globe would aspire to emulate on the pitch. His skill, pace, and style translated into, sombrero flicks and dragbacks. These became the staples of a jugador and footballing icon. Whatsmore this was backed up by his impressive record of 105 goals and 76 assists in 186 games. All of these scored on the way to two league titles 3 Copa del Reyes and a Champions League. 

If you had asked Barca fans what kind of player Neymar would go on to be after a 2014/15 season that saw him win every available trophy there would be inevitable comparisons with Ronaldinhio and his potential surpassing him. It seemed inevitable at that point that he would go down as a Barcelona legend. After Flirtations with PSG in the summer of 2016, in 2017 he would finally make the move in a deal that would end up changing the footballing transfer landscape. The final deal was worth a jaw-dropping 222 million euros. Neymar saw this as an opportunity to become the main man, a Ballon Dor contender and Champions League winner. Barcelona saw this as the opportunity to replace Neymar with players of similar quality. This came in the form of the likes of Dembele and Coutinho in the coming years many of whom would fail to live up to expectations. Arguably if we are being harsh in a similar way to Neymar at PSG.

Despite his undoubtedly good record of goal contribution at PSG of 118 goals, 77 assists and 39 G/A in 41 Champions League games. His time at PSG was mired by a lack of commitment, regular inconsistency, and wasting talent in a manner that echoed the Brazillian talents of bygone eras. Even though he won many Ligue 1 titles, as PSG is always expected to, he failed to ever win the one trophy he was bought to win. The Champions League. Admittedly, he was stifled by injury missing 741 days through injury during his time at the club. A lack of commitment is shown regularly when he misses games for his sister’s birthday, and trips to Rio for carnival, and is displayed by interventions from a Parisian major to stop the parties he had that went on until 5 a.m. Paris instead of helping fulfill his footballing ambitions seemed to simply grant him the opportunity to take his social life to new levels. 

Whilst I’m sure he enjoyed his time in Paris immensely I find it to be an immense indictment on Modern Football. At  Barca Neymar had shone and stunned the footballing public at the greatest stages as part of a truly brilliant Barcelona team, had he stayed longer there is no knowing what magic MSN may have produced. In previous decades this might have happened but instead, Barca where forced to put a huge price of  222 million euros to be bought by the Qatari Government for their pet project in Paris. 

Money has always been in football and the best teams have usually had the most money. But this transfer represented an ongoing financial power shift in Football away from some of the traditionally wealthy clubs towards state-owned clubs and American consortiums. To compete in a transfer market where players can be worth over 200 million euros Your choice is between the likes of American owners like Todd Boehly and Sten Kroenke; Or Arab state ownership from the UAE’s Sheikh Mansour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF.

So on the 19th of August when Neymar Joined Al Hilal at the age of 31 to likely never play competitive domestic or European football again it truly made me question my real issue with the transfers to these state-owned clubs. The reality is that modern life makes hypocrites of us all, where was the criticism of Abramovic ownership of Chelsea, who essentially benefited from a monopoly on the Russian state’s oil production? Or the Russian state’s poor record on human rights in the build-up to the Russian World Cup?. Will there be an inquest into America hosting a World Cup after its illegal invasion of Iraq less than 20 years ago?. No, my issue is not one of morals when it comes to Gulf State ownership of Football clubs. 

My real issue, I have realised is not the morality but the fact it laughs in the face of sporting ambition. Neymar could have chosen to move back to La Liga or the Premier League to challenge for titles and European silverware. Instead, the brilliance of Neymar will be hidden in the dusty closet that is the Saudi Pro League for nobody to watch and in the dark, his career will wither and die without a whisper. 

In a footballing world now filled with many system players simply following instructions to retain possession Neymar was a maverick. The day he confirmed his move to Saudi was essentially the day he admitted his retirement from top-level football. Nicknamed ‘Menimo’ at Santos, meaning a young player destined for greatness. it is up to you to decide whether he truly fulfilled the immense potential the boy was blessed with.