"Football is not a matter of life and death, it is more important than that."
Neymar, the ultimate fan book
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Nick Callow, London, Carlton, 2018 ISBN 978-1-78739-141-3
Neymar, the ultimate fan book, lives up to its title. However, some of the claims the book makes for the player are plainly ludicrous.
Pele, we are told is the world’s greatest ever player “but Neymar has pushed the great man all the way”. Really? Pele was part of a Brazil team which won three world cups (1958-70) with Pele undisputed star and leader. Neymar has been an average performer in a very average Brazil team in two World Cups. Sadly for many, the two biggest memories of Neymar in the World Cup have been elbowing an opponent in the face in 2014 and that outrageous dive to try to gain a penalty in 2018.
Similarly the comparison of him with Ronaldo and Messi is not based on any evidence. He may well develop into the world’s greatest player but his achievements in winning trophies and contributing in big matches is far short of Ronaldo and Messi.
The chapter on the 2014 World Cup begins with a headline: “the world will never know what would have happened if Neymar had not suffered that terrible quarter finals injury..” with the implication that with Neymar somehow Brazil would have reversed the catastrophic 1-7 defeat to Germany. Most observers would say that Germany simply exploited an average Brazil team’s lack of defensive organization. I don’t believe the inclusion of Neymar would have had any impact.
The enigma of Neymar is in reconciling “the devout Christian passionate about charity work [who] donates up to 10 per cent of has earnings to his church”, and who is pictured four times in the book with his headband “100% Jesus” and twice pointing to the sky, with the player who appears to elbow an opponent and dives to try to deceive the referee.