Neymar’s fall from grace: from the ‘new Pele’ to signing for Al Hilal

Neymar is a new Al Hilal player. The 31-year-old Brazilian will continue his career in Saudi Arabia and bring an end to his time at the top level of European football.

Neymar, who was called to lead soccer and reign after the strangehold of Cristiano and Messi, has finally closed his candidacy for the Ballon d’Or.

Instead, he’s left us with the feeling of ‘what could have been’ of one of the players who surprised the world when he was in the top 10 of the Ballon d’Or despite playing for Brazilian club Santos, a feat from another era in a soccer landscape dominated for decades by the European region.

Neymar‘s descent has been brewing for a few years now, gradually but relentlessly.

The initial 80 million paid by Al Hilal for his transfer still makes him the third most expensive player over the age of 30 in history, after Cristiano and Kane.

However, his footballing value is light years away from the player who broke all records with his 222 million euro transfer to PSG from Barcelona, and whom no one has managed to approach for the time being.

His performance in Paris, in general, has never quite justified that outlay.

Neymar’s value will multiply in two or three years

“The signing of Neymar is not expensive, because it will add value to the club. He is the best player in the world and in two or three years’ time his value will at least double,” said Al Khelaïfi at the Brazilian’s presentation in 2017 following his move from Barcelona.

Looking back, Neymar‘s six years at PSG have been far from exemplary.

In total, Ney played 173 games for PSG in all competitions, so the Parisian team ended up paying 2.2 million euros for each game played by the ’10’. He scored a total of 118 goals and 77 assists, not bad considering how little he ended up playing with the French jersey.

2020 and 2021, his best Parisian years

Neymar, who arrived hand in hand with Mbappe at PSG, had it in his power to justify his transfer in the 2020 Champions League.

The Brazilian was surprisingly in his best form in Paris: he scored in both round of 16 matches against Dortmund, provided an assist in the win against Atalanta in the quarterfinals, shone against Leipzig in the semifinals, but could do nothing in the final against Bayern.

In 2021, Ney was also superlative and led his team to the Champions League semifinals, scoring six goals in nine games. Unfortunately, the title always illuded him.

Two years on the sidelines due to injury at PSG

If the numbers during his time at PSG (the aforementioned 118 goals in 173 matches) are on his side, injuries have weighed down his time in the French capital.

In total, Neymar has spent more than two years on the sidelines since arriving at PSG in 2017: approximately 730 days away from the pitch, where he has missed 104 matches in a Parisian shirt.

That has ended up leaving him out of the fight for the Ballon d’Or since he arrived in Paris.

Two Bronze Balls in 2015 and 2017, when he played half a season at Barcelona, is the great individual legacy for a player who was asked to define an era.

His six years in Paris leave doubts given he was called to reign world football based on his years at Santos, but who failed to hit those heights following his departure from Barcelona in 2017.

At Barcelona he lived in the shadow of Messi. In Paris, no one made him more surplus to requirements than himself.

Now he is waiting for Arabia. At 31, the new Pelé will continue his career in the most powerful emerging league on the planet, but away from the spotlight, which you can’t help but feel is much too soon.