Neymar heads home from £322m Saudi calamity still a prisoner of his potential | Jonathan Wilson
Brazilian’s injury-blighted career highlights iniquities of the game, from inflated expectations to curse of celebrity excess
Never go back, but sometimes going back is all that remains. Just 18 months after he joined Al-Hilal, Neymar and the Saudi club have agreed to terminate his contract, allowing him to return to Brazil and rejoin Santos. Al-Hilal paid £77m to sign Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain on a salary of £2.5m a week. He will be paid 85% of that for the remainder of this season, meaning he cost the club £322m for seven appearances, three assists and one goal. Like so much of Neymar’s career, it all seems such a dreadful waste.
His is a story almost designed to highlight the iniquities of the modern game, from the impossible pressures placed on young players to the curse of celebrity and financial excess. Neymar’s great misfortune was to emerge just after Lionel Messi. Argentina had seemingly found a second Diego Maradona, so Brazil needed a second Pelé. When, in June 2011, the 19-year-old Neymar scored the opening goal in the final as Santos won the Copa Libertadores for the first time since Pelé had inspired them to the trophy in 1963, it seemed they had found him. But, of course, nobody can live with such comparisons and so Neymar remained always a prisoner of his potential.
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