Neymar: The Brazilian football star changing the face of Saudi football

As part of a large sports investment effort under the Kingdom's ambitious Vision 2030, the Saudi sports minister announced in June 2023 that ownership of the country's four major clubs would be transferred to the Public Investment Fund.

Read more: Saudi football kicks off bid for world-class growth

These efforts were crowned with an increase in the Saudi League's total market value from €730mn to €1.92bn. This figure is likely to soar even higher with the potential surge in TV broadcasting of football games, sales of merchandise, and sponsorships by big companies.

These revenues will be used to improve infrastructure and revive tourism. Saudi clubs will have fans from around the world, many of whom are used to following their favourite players like Neymar and Ronaldo to any corner of the world, which will help boost tourism in the Kingdom.

The biggest upside, however, is that Saudi players will benefit tremendously from performing toe-to-toe with international top footballers, and this will eventually raise the level of the Saudi national team as well.

The players of the Roshn League's 16 clubs will be playing on a weekly basis with or against superstars like Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema, Mané, Koulibaly, Henderson, Kante, Bono, Fabinho, Firmino, Savić, and several others.

Each match that includes these big names will undoubtedly enrich the experience and skills of Saudi footballers to a great extent.

This expertise will be far more salient than the experiences that a select few Saudi professionals gain from playing in European clubs, as the case used to be.

Rather, constant contact with the crème de la crème of football will polish the Saudi players' athletic and disciplinary skills such as how to commit to a healthy diet, a strict sleep schedule, and serious training.

By bringing top footballers to the Kingdom, Saudi Arabia's strategy will prove more fruitful than even the most successful investments made by other Gulf countries in European clubs.

Impressive as it may be, investing in clubs like Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain only ends up further enhancing the local European football sector. Instead, the Saudi strategy is based on bringing this valuable expertise home.

Such an approach is bound to move the Saudi football sector to a higher level where it can compete at a global level in the future.

The "no-style" style

In a Netflix documentary titled The Perfect Chaos, footballer extraordinaire Lionel Messi addresses Neymar's playing style, saying: "He is unstoppable, he is fast, intelligent, the pull he has, the speed with the ball."

Critics describe Neymar's football style as unpredictable. Unlike other top players who have their own styles in running, manoeuvring, getting through defenders, and scoring, Neymar's style might be best described as "the no-style style".

His distinctive talent cannot be measured by conventional criteria. No matter how familiar you think you are with all his movements and manoeuvres, he never ceases to surprise you.

Neymar was born with a ball between his feet. He has an instinctive, innate talent that allows him to play passionately and dribble tirelessly past the toughest defenders.

The last-minute goal he scored against Toulouse five seasons ago still makes heads turn. Baffling his defenders, Neymar ran from the left of the stadium to the right until he reached the final third. With his magical dribble, he whirled to protect the ball and pass it through, took a blind shot at the goal and — not surprisingly — scored.

At 17, Neymar had already achieved tremendous success with the renowned Brazilian Santos Club, after scoring 107 goals in 177 games throughout four seasons. His compatriots nicknamed him "the joy of the people", "the Brazilian sun", and "the golden boy".

His physique was hardly impressive, and his muscles were never particularly toned. Youth football trainers in his hometown of Praia Grande made fun of his feeble physique, which they believed could not stand up to fierce defenders.

But Neymar used this underestimation of his strength as a Trojan horse to penetrate even the most stubborn defence lines. His slender build armed him with an incomparable lightness on the grass.

According to Spanish football manager Luis Enrique, the defenders facing Neymar have one of two options: either bring him down and give him a free penalty, or surrender and let him through.

Futsal and street football

Neymar has revealed the secret behind his mastery of the art of football and how he acquired a unique set of ball skills: futsal and street football.

"In futsal, the space is quite narrow and your opponents are very close," he says. "So if you don't make up your mind within one or two seconds, your opponent will snatch the ball away from you. Futsal helped me develop the skills of making quick decisions and performing moves within limited space and time."

Street football also enabled the young Neymar to play informally and freely, without the diktats of a coach or strict tactical guidelines. This was optimal for a young football artist who was innovating his own style away from prescribed methods and strategies. It helped him unleash his exceptional potential and polish his skills.

In that respect, Neymar says: "In competitive games and difficult situations, I'd often forget about my teammates and the stadium for a second and recall the crazy manoeuvres I used to perform in São Vicenti streets to draw inspiration from them. Oftentimes, it worked."

Neymar da Silva Santos Jr was born in São Paulo in 1992. At 11, he was selected by the scouts of Portuguesa Santista to join the youth team. That same year, he joined the historical Santos Club.

After proving his extraordinary capabilities there, Real Madrid tried to sign him in 2006. In Spain, he trained for two weeks at Santiago Bernabéu but soon returned to his native Brazil as he felt homesick. Another narrative cites disagreement over Real Madrid's offer.

In 2009, Neymar officially joined Santos Club. In that year's Paulista championship, he lost to the legendary Ronaldo in both the away and home games (4-2). He finished the season with 14 goals in his record throughout 48 games.

In the following year, Neymar's stardom started to reveal itself when he became the striker and penalty taker of Santos.

Thus, he avenged the loss of the previous year by winning the Paulista, earning himself the title of its top scorer with 14 goals in 19 games.

With the Brazilian press comparing him to Robinho, or even to the legend Pelé, Neymar found himself carrying the heavy legacy of the number 10. The young man was constantly chased by the press, marketing companies, and sponsors.

"It all happened so quickly," Neymar once said in an interview. "One minute I'm poor and living a tough life, and the next I'm a celebrity being chased down the streets."

Taming the beast

Brazilian football legends have often been threatened by the curse of fame. Rising from poverty and tough living conditions to sudden fame and wealth is a difficult challenge — especially for a young man with limited life experience, as happened with Adriano.

Were it not for his father, Neymar might have followed suit.

"My father has always taken very good care of me," he says. "He was the only one who genuinely believed in my talent. He looks after my family and interests, and plans for everything."

At the start of his career, Neymar faced several problems due to his temper and moodiness – which is understandable for a young man who suddenly had the world in the palm of his hand.

His heated quarrel with his trainer at the time, Dorival Júnior, nearly changed the course of his life. Commenting on the incident, coach René Simões said in a press conference: "It's time for someone to educate that kid or we're going to create a monster."

Then came the rumours of his relationship with the popular social media influencer Carolina Dantas and his sudden announcement that they were expecting a child.

But despite all the news and rumours about Neymar's relationship with his father (and business manager at the time), the latter managed to save his son's one-in-a-million talent and helped protect the future of Neymar and his family. 

"He is facing a constant challenge. Neymar is his own worst enemy. His kindness borders on naivety," his father says.

A career of ups and downs

Neymar's time with Barcelona was probably the zenith of his career. With Messi and Luis Suarez, he formed the invincible MSN trio. Every game he played with Barcelona came with the promise of sheer pleasure and beauty thanks to magical individual and collective performances.

With the Blaugrana, Neymar scored a total of 100 goals in 173 official matches and won all the possible titles: La Liga (twice), Copa del Rey (three times), the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup (once each), and the Supercopa (twice).

In the early days of his career with Barcelona, Neymar faced some challenges due to a slight incompatibility with the Catalan team, but it didn't take him long to eventually unleash his amazing potential and unique style.

He was the dream player of any coach. He could quickly switch positions — from forward to midfield to wing — giving any coach countless options and innovative solutions.

Neymar displayed his unique qualities on several occasions with Barcelona.

One of his most memorable performances was in the away game of the 2013 Supercopa finals when he substituted for Messi who got benched at halftime due to an injury.

In his first Clasico, Neymar also gave a stellar performance — outshining both Messi and Ronaldo — scoring one goal and assisting another.

Likewise, his performance in the historical Remontada of Barcelona at the Camp Nou in March 2017 was described by the press as "miraculous".

Although Neymar has not been able to snatch a World Cup for his native Brazil yet, his achievements with the Seleção have been nothing short of impressive. Suffice it to say that he's his national team's top scorer, with 77 goals in 124 games — which equates him with Pelé. But even this golden record was tainted with the occasional bitterness.

In the 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil, the masses were outraged, taking to the streets to protest the high costs of hosting the championship as the country was mired in poverty. But when Neymar made his appearance in the opening match, it seemed like his magic overrode all that wild rage.

Things looked promising for Neymar and his compatriots. The team had beaten Cameroon and Chile, and Brazil's sixth world title seemed so close.  But the quarter-final with Colombia proved unfortunate for Neymar when Colombian defender Zoniga jumped into Neymar and sent him tumbling to the ground.

Neymar was badly injured, and an X-ray showed a fracture in the vertebrae.

"The doctor told me he had bad news and good news. The bad news was that I couldn't play for the rest of the World Cup. The good news was that I was 2.5 cm away from paralysis."

In the following two World Cups, Brazil never made it past the round of 8.

In Russia, Neymar was accused of exaggerating and faking injuries. In Qatar, he suffered an ankle fracture in the Seleção's first game, forcing him to miss half of the games of his team. But his amazing score against Croatia is still etched upon our memory — a reminder of his distinctive and unrivalled style.

If I were asked to define Neymar's style, I would resort to Saint Augustine's definition of time as an aspect that combines soul and mind. Just seeing how Neymar positioned his body in front of the Croatian defender bearing the number 19, one understands his secrets.

However, the multiple injuries Neymar suffered eventually took a toll on his body.

Following his vertebrae fracture in 2014, he suffered a ligament rupture in 2019 that prevented him from participating in the Copa America. In 2018, prior to his participation in the World Cup in Russia, he also suffered a foot fracture and an ankle sprain. Last year, he missed the Qatar World Cup qualification matches due to an injury in his left leg.

These injuries were not the result of physical weakness. His vulnerability to injury is rather caused by his elusive and cunning manoeuvres, which many deem to be degrading to his opponents.

He outwits his defenders and pulls them into a humiliating dance that often ends with his masterful escape. But not all defenders let such humiliation go by; sometimes, their response is savage, hence the violent defence.

But this only increased Neymar's determination. "The more I fall to the ground, the more I'm motivated to get back up and win."

The effect of these repeated injuries elicited disapproval among the fans of Paris Saint-Germain, who began to turn on their player in discontentment, in that typically critical French fashion.

Today, after a long history of achievements and hardships, the fans of the Saudi Al-Hilal Club surely hope that the curse of Neymar's injuries will not affect their great expectations, as they look forward to seeing how the Brazilian superstar will light up the Roshn League on every game night.