Despite Breaking 52YO Record, Neymar Branded ‘Underachiever’ Alongside World Cup Winning Brazil Legend

Neymar was regarded as a world-class player since his time at Santos. In 2017, he made a move to PSG in a record-breaking transfer at the time. The move would act as the unbecoming of soccer finances. Neymar recently overtook Pele’s goal-scoring record, a record not broken for 52 years. He scored a brace against Bolivia and took his international tally to 79 goals, 2 more than Pele’s (77).

Neymar, however, wasn’t able to recreate this image at Parc Des Princes and is now regarded as an underachiever. It’s long been debated on how to rate Neymar’s career, yet a few have strong takes.

The Brazilian could have achieved a lot more

Pundits now seem to discuss if Neymar was a bigger underachiever than Ronaldinho, who has won two World Cups with Brazil. Luis Garcia, Shaka Hislop, and Alejandro Moreno dig into the details of Neymar’s supposed ‘underachievement.’

In a talk show, when presented with the question of the biggest underachiever, Luis Garcia takes his stance stating that he finds Ronaldinho to be more of an underachiever.

To this Hislop responds, “It’s Neymar easily. I’ve heard from many people that Ronaldinho could’ve achieved more but we are talking about a player who’s won the Champions League as has Neymar, COPA America, the World Cup, and the Ballon d’Or.”

Luis Garcia then explains, “10 years of Ronaldinho I could’ve seen him win 3-4 Ballon d’Or’s. He could have won a lot more trophies. I haven’t seen a player since Messi that could have the same potential for years. We saw the best Ronaldinho for only 4 years. That’s why I think he didn’t achieve what he could have done.”

Read more – After Neymar Called PSG ‘Hell’, Club Legend Questions His Desire During 6 Years in Paris – “Did He Always Do What Was Necessary?”

Alejandro Moreno, another pundit on the pane,l shared the thought that people of his generation could relate more to Ronaldinho. Nevertheless, Neymar’s decline is often attributed to his move to PSG but what were the reasons that resulted in such a downfall?

Neymar and his time in Paris

PSG signed Neymar in a deal worth $237,830,000 million. It was a record-breaking deal at that time. The move left fans and pundits equally perplexed. From PSG’s perspective, they were assembling a team of stars. Fans, however, never really understood why Ney needed a change, with murmurs of a desire to get out of Messi’s shadow.

After a decent start, Neymar’s stint at PSG was plagued by injuries. In 6 years in Paris, Neymar only played 112 games in Ligue 1.

PSG and their fans were left upset after he missed out on major matches during their Champions League campaign. This didn’t go well with the supporters of the club as they were also tired of his on and off-field antics.

After 6 seasons in Paris, the player has moved to the Saudi Pro League in a big-money move, yet again.

Watch this story: Jimmy Butler Approves $120,000,000 Richer ‘Friend’ Neymar Jr’s Multi-Million Saudi League Deal

What’s your take on the Neymar and Ronaldinho debate? Let us know in the comments below.