Neil Humphreys: Don't kill your career, Neymar
Barca star would be silly to leave Messi for PSG
Neymar wants to swop The Beatles for One Direction.
He's tired of playing Paul McCartney to Lionel Messi's John Lennon, apparently, so he fancies swopping Barcelona's band of brothers for the pretenders of Paris Saint-Germain.
The Brazilian craves centre stage, a chance to hog the limelight without Messi and win the Ballon d'Or.
But it'll never happen.
Like Lennon and McCartney, Messi and Neymar produce mini-symphonies together, just as they did in their 2-1 win against Juventus yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Messi brings the conductor's baton. Neymar adds the samba. Together, they're part of a rhythm nation, a chorus of Catalans raised on the sweetest sounds.
And Neymar reportedly wants to break up the band, adamant that he can hit the same notes in Paris.
But he won't.
Just as McCartney never again scaled the artistic peaks he reached with Lennon, Neymar will not surpass his previous achievements.
Nor will he exorcise Messi's ghost. He'll always be the man who played with the greatest of all time. More damningly, he'll always be the man who rejected the greatest of all time in favour of Parisian pussycats.
Neymar can change clubs. But he'll never escape Messi's shadow.
PSG's Qatari owners can throw as many petrodollars as they like at their vanity project, but they can't buy Neymar what he already has.
They can't buy a partner like Messi.
PSG have reportedly triggered the striker's insane 222-million euro (S$354m) release clause. The Qataris can offer up to 30m euros a year after taxes, plus a huge signing bonus.
Neymar's family need never work again, for a couple of generations.
But he still won't have Messi, or Luis Suarez, or Barcelona's La Masia academy to feed his talent, to satisfy his appetite for world domination.
He'll be the cashed-up sheriff in a one-horse town.
Neymar already has the world at his feet, in the shape of the match ball.
Yesterday, he used it to dance around five Juventus dummies to score the kind of goal regularly crafted at the Nou Camp.
WORTHY WINNER
His masterclass in close control and balletic movement proved to be a worthy winner, but his first goal wasn't too shabby either.
A lovely, fluid move culminated in an intelligent exchange with Paco Alcacer and a tidy finish; textbook teamwork, textbook Barcelona.
Neymar's eyes may be drawn to all those zeros in Paris, but his soul belongs to Barcelona. Whether he cares to admit it or not, the Brazilian was born to play for the club and alongside Messi.
If he plays second fiddle, then he plays second fiddle to a Stradivarius.
At Paris, comparatively speaking, he'd play lead in a pub band.
And Barcelona would be left cash rich and asset poor.
Real Madrid's aggressive expansionism continues, with a number of astute, youthful purchases in the transfer market.
The La Liga and Champions League holders are planting the seeds of dynasty.
Selling Neymar hands the initiative to Real before a ball has been kicked.
Nor surprisingly, Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and new coach Ernesto Valverde have both insisted that the striker isn't for sale.
But Neymar has supposedly told teammates that he's off to the Parc des Princes. It's not about the money, apparently, but the chance to be numero uno.
If that's really the case, then Neymar wasn't paying close attention against Juventus yesterday morning.
Messi pranced and pirouetted. But Neymar dominated. The game offered a tantalising glimpse of Barcelona's future
Messi turned 30 last month. Neymar has five years on his senior partner. Time and talent are on his side.
Messi's shadow was always destined to become Messi's successor, as long as his patience matched his pedigree.
But Neymar risks jeopardising his chance of being king of the Catalan side, in favour of being the richest man in a team that couldn't beat Tottenham yesterday.
Hopefully, the transfer speculation is the latest work of his wily father/agent, who leaked similar PSG rumours last season and earned his son a massive pay rise.
But if Neymar is seriously considering a move to PSG, then the 25-year-old should probably accept that the best days of his career are already behind him.
And he'll always wonder what might have been.
To squeeze in the McCartney analogy one last time, the musician left The Beatles and went on to become one of the richest men in show business.
He's now 75 and still gets asked one question ahead of any other… What was it like playing with John Lennon?
Neymar can change clubs. But he'll never escape Messi's shadow.
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