Neymar, Florentino and a certain Cristiano Ronaldo...
Last night Neymar was back with his PSG side as they lifted the French Cup at the Stade de France. In his time back in Brazil recovering from injury, the Parisian outfit secured the Ligue 1 title, were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid and saw how current coach Unai Emery will stand down come season end. Despite the Brazilian's absence life at PSG continues to be as turbulent as ever. Neymar spent the bulk of his time in his luxury villa close to Rio and has carried out his rehabilitation process away from the club who paid 222 million euro for his services last summer.
Maverick
"Neymar is an excellent player for sure but something of a maverick, that's the way current footballers are" affirmed a friend recently. Maybe there is some truth in that but not all players could be tarnished with that claim. The world's finest: Messi and Cristiano despite what people may state, pretty much have their feet on the ground. In my view Neymar is indeed a fine player but still some way off the level of both the Argentine and Cristiano Ronaldo. He's supposed to be the heir to their throne when their careers start to wane and has shown moments of true genius but for me two elements are still missing from his game: prudence and consistency.
Interest
Now the links with Madrid emerge as Florentino has apparently sent club representatives to meet with the player in Brazil. On the very same day that Cristiano won his fifth Ballon d'Or award, the Madrid president was asked about bringing Neymar to the Bernabeu and he flirted with the notion. This mild flirtation irked Cristiano, who for Perez has always been a Ramon Calderon signing. Since then Cristiano has been prolific with his goals instrumental in Madrid on the cusp of winning a historic third consecutive Champions League title but still seems at odds with the hierarchy at the club. Maybe that is one of Florentino's motives for his continued interested in the Brazilian striker.