Neymar to Real Madrid : fact or fiction?

Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. is one of the most prolific and most recognisable athletes on earth. He is a prolific player, creator and goal scorer, has won multiple league and cup titles including an UCL at Barcelona and also a treble at Barcelona. At Barcelona, he was one of the forwards of the famous MSN trident whom many consider to be the most lethal and effective attacking trident in football history. According to many, he is the third best player in world, only behind the legendary duo of Messi and Ronaldo, and some consider him already to be in their bracket. He is also the crown jewel of Brazil national team, and is among the favourites to win the World Cup in Russia with a flamboyant Brazilian side. Naturally, such a player will also be coveted by all the top sides in World football and Neymar already have made two block buster moves in his career, from Santos to Barcelona,  and from Barcelona to PSG.

All of Neymar’s transfers upto now has remained long drawn sagas with complexity. When he came from Santos to Barcelona, it was a shady deal which ultimately landed Sandro Rossel behind the bars. Next when he moved to Paris Saint Germans, it was for a world shattering fee which arguably inflated football transfer market by many times, not to mention the prolonged drama surrounding the transfer. One year later, rumours are in the air that Real Madrid are after him and have made him their main target this summer. Let’s take a look at how much logical the scenerio is.

From Los Blanco’s view point, it makes perfect sense. With Cristiano Ronaldo taking a more central side during recent years to compensate for his loss of pace, the left wing is perfectly suited to neymar to carry out his electric runs and trickery, thereby giving Madrid a tremendous boost in their attack. Neymar is only 26,which means he can give a solid 6-7 seasons to Real Madrid and can fill the vacuum to be left behind by Ronaldo. Not only that, it will be a tremendous show of power over Barcelona, to bring their prodigy, a member of the famed MSN, whom Barcelona could not hold onto and were forced to sell. It will be good for Neymar too. To bring him, Madrid must have to smash the transfer record again by quite some margin, which means he and his family will again receive an unthinkable hefty fee. Also, he will surely have his contract notched up which already is astronomical. With Real Madrid, just like with Barcelona, his chances to win the Balon d’or will be high again and he will take the mantle once Cristiano Ronaldo fades. So far, all seems so good for the transfer to happen. But one major factor remains for whom this transfer will prove disastrous, PSG.

PSG flexed all their muscles to bring Neymar this summer. They paid an unreal transfer fee, gave him an astronomical salary, and played every trick in the book to bypass FFP, to make this transfer happen. This was supposed to be their move of intent, which will catapult them among the footballing elite and closer towards winning that UCL trophy, they so covet for. If they can’t keep the man on which they gave all their efforts and made investments akin to GDP of a small nation, this will be a major slap on their aspirations and a big dent in their reputation. Neymar has no release clause and PSG seemingly have no shortage of cash, being backed by one of the richest nations in World. They didn’t even sold Thiago Silva or Marco Veratti to Barcelona, how can they sell the man whom they have bet their pedigree on.

This is football and all kinds of strange and unthinkable things happen every season. However, it seems highly unlikely that we shall see Neymar lighting up Europe next season donning the famous white jersey.