FC Barcelona has purchased Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, perhaps the best player in the world who didn’t turnout for a European outfit this season, from Santos.
Neymar, just 21 years old, has been capped for Brazil over 30 times and now gets the chance to ply his trade for one of the biggest and most successful clubs in the world.
He’ll add his considerable attacking ability to a team that already has Lionel Messi. The move will also boost the morale of a club that seemed to be tailing off in performance at the end of this season.
It is speculated the deal will net Neymar around 28 million euros over five years. There were reports the offer he turned down from Real Madrid was for around 60 million euros, which seems like a big disparity.
However, neither Santos or FC Barcelona have been drawn into revealing the figure paid for the transfer, instead preferring to emphasise the good relationship between the two clubs.
People who follow the transition of stars from South American clubs to Europe won’t find this surprising. Contract negotiations are undertaken using different tactics and motivations to those in other football nations.
Neymar was initially understood to desire staying in Brazil until after the 2015 World Cup but officially requested the transfer be granted within the last week after receiving two offers from FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Some of Neymar’s achievements include winning the Copa Libertadores with Santos in 2011 – the first time the club has secured that trophy since 1963.
Since his debut as a professional for Santos in 2009, Neymar has scored 136 goals from a total of 224 appearances. Barcelona will be looking forward to adding that spectacular conversion rate onto the end of their incisive passing.
Neymar won the Puskas Award for the best goal in world football in 2011:
The ability to control the ball in tight spaces and dribble around people without losing speed is one of Neymar’s greatest assets. Many of his mazy, tight runs end up with a defender just pushing him over from behind before he causes more embarrassment. (From 1min mark.)
And, goals:
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