Sport

Reflections on Neymar’s return to Santos

They say football holds a mirror up to society, a belief the growing sense of disenfranchisement within does little to disprove. While it may be under the ever-tightening grip of greed and bureaucracy, there are some moments which stand as reminders of why the game remains beautiful. Neymar’s return to Santos in January was one of them.

Footballers are often treated like royalty, which isn’t always a good thing. Santos’ social media activity in the days leading up to his homecoming certainly showed they felt that way. #ThePrinceIsBack accompanied most of their posts on X, formerly Twitter, and it felt apt. When he was a teenager, many who saw him at Santos believed him to be the heir to Pele, the man who would always be known as king.

Players closing out their careers where they began is extremely common, particularly in South America. The emotional bond between player and club is fused early on, and though they often leave to fulfil their potential in the bright lights of Europe, their true home pulls them back eventually. It would be fair to question whether Neymar did manage to justify the hype, but that is more a reflection of just what was expected of him when he emerged.

Neymar’s first spell at Santos was something to behold; he was a generational talent who looked like he could do what he wanted at any given moment. His emergence came at the right time, too; the last World Cup-winning era, which spawned Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano had ended and a void was there to be filled. Brazil needed a poster boy, somebody to shoulder the expectation and lead them to success in the desired way, with tricks, flicks and the sort of cheeky arrogance only a select few both possess and can pull off.

His rise created waves around Brazil early; it wasn’t normal. By the time he scored the 2011 Puskas award-winning goal in a 5-4 defeat to Ronaldinho’s Flamengo, when the man many now see as Neymar’s predecessor as Brazil’s talisman scored a hat-trick in what became known as “the game of the century”, his stock was worldwide.

The following summer he arrived in London for the 2012 Olympic Games as the player to watch at the football tournament; there was no question he was world class even then. Most players in his position would have left Santos well before he did, but as stated, Neymar was different. His career was already so important; choosing the right move was a delicate endeavour. It took a year, and inevitably came down to a choice between Barcelona and Real Madrid. He opted for the former, and the formation of arguably the defining relationship of his career, with Lionel Messi.

Both became best of friends, but the narrative of their dynamic is rather convoluted. Messi was the main man at Camp Nou; there wasn’t room for both him and Neymar to rule the roost. The pair became an unstoppable force alongside Luis Suarez, peaking during the 2014-15 treble-winning season, but it was clear Messi’s presence was stopping Neymar from achieving what was predicted for him individually, namely in terms of winning the Ballon d’Or.

The reality, of course, was Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s duopoly over that award would have been a lot for anyone to contend with. It was Neymar’s own actions in response which ultimately harmed his legacy when, in 2017, he made a world record £222m move to Paris Saint-Germain, thrusting himself into the centre of arguably the turning point of modern football. Messi even offered to do everything he could to help Neymar win the Ballon d’Or in a desperate bid to get him to stay.

The fee dwarfed the previous record of £90m set by Paul Pogba and Manchester United only a year earlier, and shattered the entire market. Although Kylian Mbappe joined him at PSG for £160m and Ousemane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho moved to Barcelona as his replacements for £275m combined, deals of that magnitude have not become a regular fixture.

The Covid pandemic and Financial Fair Play rules stopped that in its tracks, but clubs are still demanding similar fees for players, creating a sense of stasis in the European market. Players are too expensive to be transferred.

But the PSG move only served to take him further away from the recognition he craved. His time was undercut by power struggles with teammates, initially quite openly with Edinson Cavani and later when Mbappe began to overtake him as a local boy done good; a teenage prodigy with similar levels of demand. Having been born near Paris, he was always going to be looked upon favourably. Not only was Neymar never the king like Messi was at Barcelona, but the fact he was playing in a league with very little competition in it hampered the image he wanted too.

It was a two-way street; Neymar wanted the limelight at PSG to become the best in the world, but PSG wanted Neymar to inspire them to Champions League success. An appearance in the Covid-era final in 2020 was as close as they came, but they were swept aside by Bayern Munich.

Injuries were a constant companion in Paris, too. Though there were undoubted flashes of his street-honed genius he showcased as a carefree teenager at Santos during his peak years, there was a lot of promise he never came through on.

When Saudi Arabis muscled in on Europe’s financial difficulties and signed superstars to challenge the status quo, Neymar joined Al-Hilal for £70m. But a cruciate knee ligament rupture after a handful of appearances wrecked his chance to spearhead yet another project at his best. It could easily be argued both recent transfers, costing a combined near £300m, are among the worst value ever seen.

But that is not the legacy Neymar deserves, nor does it reflect his true impact on the world stage. With 79 goals to date, he is Brazil’s all-time top goalscorer, eclipsing Pele. He led them into a home World Cup in 2014 and won gold at a home Olympics two years later.

What Neymar has done should transcend the headlines. Yes, his career has perhaps not hit the heights once thought, but that only reflects on the heights, not him as a player. At 33 years of age, he has returned home a hero, to where he is loved, with a place modern Brazilian footballing folklore well and truly secure.