Neymar JR

 Neymar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Neymar (disambiguation).

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is da Silva and the second or paternal family name is Santos. "Júnior" is a generational suffix used for someone whose name is the same as their father, like "Jr." in English.

Neymar

Neymar playing for Al Hilal in 2023

Personal information

Full name Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior[1]

Date of birth 5 February 1992 (age 32)[1]

Place of birth Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil[2]

Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]

Position(s) Attacking midfielder, winger

Team information

Current team Al Hilal

Number 10

Youth career

1999–2003 Portuguesa Santista

2003–2009 Santos

Senior career*

Years Team Apps (Gls)

2009–2013 Santos 177 (107)

2013–2017 Barcelona 123 (68)

2017–2023 Paris Saint-Germain 112 (82)

2023– Al Hilal 3 (0)

International career‡

2009 Brazil U17 3 (1)

2011 Brazil U20 7 (9)

2012–2016 Brazil U23 14 (8)

2010– Brazil 128 (79)

Medal record

Signature

*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 September 2023 (UTC)

‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 04:10, 18 October 2023

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), also known as Neymar Júnior, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a attacking midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal and the Brazil national team. Regarded as one of the greatest players in his generation, he is renowned for his flamboyant style of play, passing abilities, and two-footedness.[3][4][5][6][7][8] Neymar has scored at least 100 goals for three different clubs, being one of a few players to do so,[9] and is the highest-scoring Brazilian player in Champions League history.[10] Neymar is also the top goalscorer of all time of the Brazil national football team.[11]

Neymar made his professional debut with Santos in 2009, and in 2011, he helped them win their first Copa Libertadores in nearly 50 years.[12] In 2013, he joined Barcelona and became part of an attacking trio with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, dubbed MSN. Winning the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League in the trio's first season, Neymar was the joint-top scorer of the Champions League campaign and top scorer in the Copa del Rey. Neymar joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2017 in a transfer costing €222 million, making him the most expensive player ever.[note 1][15] There, he won Ligue 1 Player of the Year, won five Ligue 1 titles, and was integral to PSG being runners-up in the 2019-20 Champions League. He also ranks as PSG's fourth-highest all-time top goalscorer, despite reoccurring injuries consistently disrupting his playing time. In 2023, he became the most expensive signing in Saudi Pro League history, costing €90 million, as he signed for Al Hilal.

Debuting for Brazil aged 18, Neymar is the nation's all-time top goalscorer, with 79 goals in 128 matches. He won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, winning the Golden Ball. In the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he was named in the Dream Team. He captained Brazil to their first Olympic gold medal in men's football at the 2016 Summer Olympics, having already achieving a silver medal at the 2012 edition. Helping Brazil to a runner-up finish at the 2021 Copa América, he was jointly awarded Best Player. In the 2022 World Cup, he became the third Brazilian player to score in three World Cups, after Pelé and Ronaldo. Neymar has won a record six Samba Gold awards.

Neymar has been named in the FIFA FIFPro World11 and the UEFA Team of the Year twice and the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season three times. He finished third for the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2015 and 2017 and won the FIFA Puskás Award in 2011. SportsPro named Neymar the world's most marketable athlete in 2012 and 2013, and ESPN cited him as the world's fourth-most-famous athlete in 2016. In 2017, Time included him in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[16] France Football ranked Neymar the world's third-highest-paid footballer of 2018. Forbes ranked him the world's third-highest-paid athlete of 2019,[17] dropping to fourth in 2020.[18]

Early life

He was born in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, to Neymar Santos Sr. and Nadine da Silva and had a Christian upbringing.[19][20] He inherited his name from his father, who is a former footballer and became his son's advisor as Neymar's talents began to grow.[21] Neymar comments on his father's role: "My father has been by my side since I was little. He takes care of things, my finances and my family."[22] Growing up, Neymar combined his love of futsal with street football.[23] Neymar said that futsal had a massive influence on him growing up, helping him develop his technique, speed of thought and ability to perform moves in tight spaces.[24]

In 2003, Neymar moved with his family to São Vicente, where he began playing for youth side Portuguesa Santista.[25] Then, later in 2003, they moved to Santos, where Neymar joined Santos.[26] With the success of his youth career and added income, the family bought their first property, a house next to Vila Belmiro, Santos' home stadium. Their quality of family life improved, as at age 15, Neymar was earning 10,000 reais per month and at 16, 125,000 reais per month. At 17, he signed his first full professional contract, was upgraded to the Santos first team, and began signing his first sponsorship deals.[27]

Club career

Santos

Youth

Neymar began playing football at an early age and he was soon spotted by Santos who offered him a contract in 2003; where he was inducted into their youth academy, which has, in the past, produced Brazilian internationals like Coutinho, Clodoaldo, Diego, Elano and Alex. He also joined the likes of Pepe, Pelé and Robinho in starting out his career at the club, nicknamed Peixe.[28] While in the youth academy, Neymar met Paulo Henrique Ganso, becoming good friends in the process. Aged 14, Neymar travelled to Spain for try outs with the Real Madrid youth team. He did not stay in Madrid, however, as his father decided at the time that he preferred the young prodigy to keep growing up while playing at Santos.[29][30]

2009: Debut season

Neymar made his professional debut on 7 March 2009, despite being only 17 years old. He was brought on for the last thirty minutes, in a 2–1 win against Oeste.[23] The following week he scored his first goal for Santos against Mogi Mirim. One month later, on 11 April, Neymar scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win against Palmeiras in the 2009 Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg.[31] In the final, however, Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Corinthians.[32] In his first season, Neymar racked up 14 goals in 48 games.[23]

2010: Campeonato Paulista success

"The 18-year-old is a magnificent prospect. He is sleek and skilful, able to beat the defender on either side, capable of combining well, and full of tricks he can put to productive use in and around the penalty area."

—South American football journalist Tim Vickery on Neymar in 2010.[33]

He continued his ascendancy in 2010, and, on 15 April, he scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 rout of Guarani in the qualifying stages of the Brazilian Cup.[34] Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games,[28] the club were crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals.[35] Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition.[36] Neymar's performances for Santos drew comparisons to other Brazilians, including Robinho and Pelé.[37]

In 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid for him from English Premier League team West Ham United,[38] and later an offer from another English club, Chelsea, reported to be in the region of £20 million.[39] Despite the unwillingness of Santos to sell and Neymar himself stating: "I'm focused only on Santos",[40] his agent, Wagner Ribeiro, indicated that Neymar's career was elsewhere, stating: "He wants to become the best player in the world. The chances of him doing that while playing in Brazil are zero."[39] One year later Neymar said, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, that he had been happy with Chelsea's interest in him as it was a "dream" of his "to play in Europe", while also stating that at the time it had been the right decision to stay in Brazil.[41]

On 30 November 2010, Santos sold a 5% share of future transfer fees that he would receive to an investment group, Terceira Estrela Investimentos S.A. (TEISA), for R$ 3,549,900 (€1.5 million).[42] The previous year, his family had sold a 40% stake in Neymar's sporting rights to the DIS Esporte group who had been a long-term strategic partner of Santos' football club.[43]

Despite his first two seasons being highly successful, having ended the 2010 season with an impressive 42 goals in 60 games, problems had been identified, namely Neymar's apparent taste for diving when tackled, rather than attempting to continue his run, and his attitude. The latter came to the forefront during a match with Atlético Goianiense, on 15 September 2010, when the Santos' manager, Dorival Júnior, appointed another player to take the penalty awarded for a foul on Neymar.[citation needed] His decision was based on the fact that Neymar had missed a crucial penalty during the Copa do Brasil final of that year, even if Santos went on to win. Reacting to this, Neymar turned his back on his manager, had to be calmed down by a linesman and argued with his captain, Edu Dracena. The fallout from this event was that Dorival Júnior wished to have Neymar suspended for two weeks, but the board sided with the player and promptly sacked the manager. Despite Neymar's apologies over the incident, some doubts still remain about his attitude.[23] In December 2010, aged just 18, Neymar came third for the 2010 South American Footballer of the Year, behind Andrés D'Alessandro and Juan Sebastián Verón.[44]

2011: Puskás Award

Neymar training ahead of the 2011 Copa Libertadores finals against Peñarol

Neymar scored six goals during Santos' run to the 2011 Copa Libertadores Finals, tying him for third top goalscorer,[45] including the clinching goal of Santos' 4–3 aggregate win over Cerro Porteño in the semi-finals.[46] In the two-legged final, Santos faced Uruguayan side Peñarol and drew the first leg 0–0 in Montevideo.[47] At home in the second leg, Neymar opened the scoring in the 46th minute as Santos held on for a 2–1 win and Neymar won Man of the Match honours.[48][49] The win brought Santos their first Copa Libertadores triumph since 1963, when Brazilian legend Pelé was playing for the club.[50][51]

In September 2011, Santos club president Luís Ribeiro threatened to report Real Madrid to FIFA following reports that they had attempted to sign Neymar to a pre-contract agreement, and denied that such an agreement was in place.[52] On 9 November, Neymar and Santos agreed to a contract extension that would see the player stay with the club until after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The deal reportedly increased Neymar's wages by 50%, to the levels that top European clubs would be paying him.[53] On 14 December, Neymar scored the opening goal for Santos as they defeated Kashiwa Reysol 3–1 in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup at the Toyota Stadium in Toyota, Japan, but failed to score against Barcelona in the final on 18 December, where Santos were defeated 4–0, finishing as runners-up in the competition.[54] He won the 2011 FIFA Puskás Award for scoring a solo goal in the Brasileirão Série A against Flamengo, in a 5–4 loss. On 31 December, he won the 2011 South American Footballer of the Year award for the first time, by a record margin, following in the footsteps of Diego Maradona, Romário, Pelé and Zico.[55]

2012: South America's best player

On 5 February 2012, when he turned 20, Neymar scored his 100th goal as a professional football player, against Palmeiras in the Campeonato Paulista.[56][57] On 25 February – he scored two goals, one of which was from 25-yards – and created two assists to help his side to a 6–1 win over Ponte Preta.[58] On 7 March, Neymar netted a hat-trick as Santos saw off Brazilian rivals Internacional 3–1 in the Copa Libertadores Group stage match.[59] On 29 March, he scored a brace against Guaratinguetá in a 5–0 victory.[60] In the fixture against São Paulo on 29 April 2012, Neymar scored a hat-trick with the match ending 3–1.[61] Thereafter, he went on to score twice in the first[62] and second legs[63] in the 2012 Campeonato Paulista Finals against Guarani, which ended 7–2 on aggregate. Neymar finished the 2012 Campeonato Paulista with 20 goals and was voted the Best player and Best Forward, and Santos were crowned champions. He was joint top scorer in the Copa Libertadores with eight goals, after Santos were beaten over two legs by eventual champions Corinthians in the semi-finals.

On 25 August 2012, he scored a brace in the 2–1 away win at Palmeiras.[64] On 3 November, in the Brasileiro Série A away fixture at Cruzeiro, Neymar scored a hat-trick and assisted Felipe Anderson's goal, to help his side to a 4–0 win.[65] Neymar finished off the 2012 season in style, first setting-up Victor Andrade's equaliser, then scoring twice, to give Santos a 3–1 home win over Palmeiras on 1 December.[66] Neymar was voted the Best Player of the 2012 Recopa Sudamericana, with himself scoring in the second leg to win the title 2–0 on aggregate. He finished the 2012 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A with 14 goals and being voted the Best forward. Neymar finished the 2012 season, being award the Golden Ball, Arthur Friedenreich Award and Armando Nogueira Trophy. He was one of three finalists in the 2012 FIFA Puskás Award and finished runners-up behind Miroslav Stoch. He won the 2012 South American Footballer of the Year, retaining his award and winning it ahead of the likes of Ronaldinho.[67]

2013: Final season

Neymar started the 2013 Campeonato Paulista scoring twice in the first match, which ended a 3–1 win over São Bernardo on 19 January 2013.[68] On 3 February, in the Paulista fixture against São Paulo, where Santos won 3–1, with Neymar scoring and making two assists.[69] On 18 March, Neymar told that he had a "dream of playing in Europe, for a big club like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea." But he went on to say, "There's no point in speculating when I'll leave Santos. I'll leave when I want to."[70]

Neymar scored all four goals, had another disallowed and hit the post as Santos beat União Barbarense 4–0 in the Paulista on 13 April.[71] On 25 April, his agent and father revealed that Neymar intended to leave for Europe before the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[72] Ahead of his last match for Santos, on 26 May against Flamengo, Neymar was in tears during the national anthem.[73]