Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior also know as Neymar Jr is Brazilian who plays as a forward for French club Paris Saint-Germain and the Brazil national team.At just 26 years of age, the young energetic footballer happens to be the highest and the most expensive player Association Football transfer.This came after he signed for a transfer deal in 2017 to move from Barcelona to a french club Paris Saint-Germain.
Neymar began his career at youth club Portuguesa Santista before joining the Santos academy in 2003. In March 2009, he made his professional debut as a 17-year-old, coming off the bench in a 2-1 win over Oeste.
He scored on his full debut before netting the winner in a Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg victory over Palmeiras the following month, ending his maiden season with 14 goals in 48 games for Peixe.
While still playing for Brazil at the under 17 , the young footballer caught the attention of Brazilian legends Pelé and Romario who asked the then Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, commonly known as Dunga to select the youngster in the senior squad for the following year’s World Cup that was held in South Africa, although he did not make it to the 23-man cut for the tournament he put on was stand-by list.
Later on, Neymar’s star continued to grow in 2010, he scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 rout of Guarani in the qualifying stages of the Brazilian Cup. Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games, the club was crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals.
He was then awarded for the best player in the competition following his performances for Santos beating the likes of including Robinho and Brazilian legend Pelé.
Following his good performance he became a target for English premier league with West Ham United bidding him at £12 million which was rejected by Santos, again Chelsea came knocking with a reported amount adding to £20 million.
Despite Santos unwillingness to sell Neymar, he also indicated his focus to have been on Santos. His agent then Wagner Ribeiro, indicating that Neymar’s career was elsewhere, and wanted to become the best player in the world. The chances of him doing that while playing in Brazil are zero.
However, Neymar later on admitted that he had been happy with Chelsea’s interest in him as it was a “dream” of his “to play in Europe”, while also stating that at the time it had been the right decision to stay in Brazil.
In 2011,Neymar was the leading goalscorer at the South American Youth Championship, including a win for Brazil against Uruguay in the final, and he was also called up to Verde-Amarela’s 2011 Copa America squad.
In 2012, he won another championship for Santos and a second consecutive South American Footballer of the Year award, prompting speculation that Barcelona had agreed a deal to sign him at a later date.
He was included in Brazil’s London 2012 Olympic Games squad and scored three times en route to the final, which Brazil lost to Mexico.
He played for for Santos in May 2013 before completing a €57.1 million move to Barcelona, where he signed a five-year contract. A record 55,000 supporters packed into Camp Nou to greet their new hero at his official presentation.
The 20-year-old then made his competitive Barça debut as a second half substitute in a 7-0 win over Levante before netting his first competitive goal against Atlético Madrid in the Supercopa de España in 2013.
His good performance and goals for his country at the 2013 Confederations Cup got him the Golden Ball award for player of the tournament hence named as Brazil’s best hope of winning the World Cup in 2014.
Neymar’s first season at Barcelona did not end well though he helped Blaugrana to the treble in 2014/15, forming a deadly triumvirate with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez and scoring 39 goals in all competitions, including one in the 3-1 Champions League final win over Juventus.
While still playing for Barça, the club won the La Liga title and the Copa del Rey in the following season with Neymar scoring in the final of the latter taking third place behind Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the running for the FIFA Ballon d’Or in that season.
He was then appointed to captained his home country Brazil at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio where he scored four goals as well as successful the penalty shoot-out winning spot-kick which delivered Brazil’s first ever gold medal in men’s football.
In 2017, Neymar finished his five year contract with Barcelona, signing for French club Paris Saint-Germain at a deal worth €222 million making him most expensive footballer.He joined the club on a contract that would run until 2022. With Javier Pastore offering the number 10 jersey as a welcome gift.
He made his debut for PSG on 13 August, scoring a goal for himself and also setting up another in a 3–0 away victory over Guingamp. He later added two more goals to his tally in the next Ligue 1 fixture against Toulouse. Forming a prolific attacking trio alongside teenage French prodigy Kylian Mbappé and Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani, he scored one each in PSG’s two opening games of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage, with the team winning 5–0 at Celtic and 3–0 at home over Bayern Munich respectively.
He is currently among the 23-squad man for his country Brazil who are playing at the 2018 Russia World.