VS‘is a rather sinister running-gag: injured and unavailable for several weeks, Neymar Jr will miss, Tuesday, February 16, the eighth-final of Paris-Saint-Germain against Barcelona, in the Champions League. A curse or a “habit” of the Brazilian, precisely at the time when his club relied on him the most.
Inevitably, we will still speculate on the causes of these repeated absences: risky game, special fate inflicted by Ligue 1 defenders, healthy lifestyle, physiological fragility … It is certainly tempting to link these last two factors, but it would be conjecture.
The concern is rather that the player, making no secret of his taste for the party (“Something I will never give up”, he assured on TF1, at the end of January), by mediating his sumptuous receptions of end of year or birthday, does not do everything to rule out this hypothesis.
Other “superplayers”, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo carefully stage their exemplary nature, as a counterpart to what they cost their club. Neymar himself suffers as much from his image as from his injuries.
Signs of immaturity
Its paradoxical record, that of the record holder for transfer amounts (222 million euros), is first of all expressed in economic and symbolic terms. He had brought PSG “into another dimension” by his sole arrival in the summer of 2017, simultaneously with that of Kylian Mbappé, helping to enhance both the resources and the international image of the club.
In sporting terms, this record is more ambivalent, not only for not having played much more than half of his team’s matches since his integration (103 out of 190). Many other statistics leave no doubt about the influence of a player as prodigious as he is decisive. With him, Paris ended up breaking through its glass ceiling in the Champions League by reaching the final of the “Final 8” in August.
However, the Brazilian, brilliant in the quarter and semi-final – without being a scorer – let go in the final and sank, after the opening of the score of Bayern Munich, in an excitement of which he is customary and which sealed the impotence of Paris. . It’s hard not to see it as a sign of its immaturity and its difficulty completely honoring its status.
PSG deficiencies
PSG, with its casting policy, has its own share of responsibility in the course of the attacker under his colors. Its leaders have not been able to build a workforce, if not to its extent, at least able to relieve it of some of its responsibilities. The imbalances remained glaring, accentuating the dependence on angel players.
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