NEYMAR is better than Cristiano Ronaldo… and second only to Lionel Messi in the list of football’s greatest current star.
That is according to former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, who signed the Brazilian from Santos in 2013.
Neymar is ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo but behind Lionel Messi according to ex-Barcelona president Sandro RosellCredit: Reuters
And the ex-Nou Camp chief is adamant if he was still in charge of the club, he would make re-singing the now-PSG star his No1 priority.
Rosell, who ran the Catalan giants between 2010 and 2014, told COPE and Radio Marca: “If I were the president of Barca, I would try to sign Neymar.
“He is the second-best player in the world after Messi and fits perfectly into the philosophy of the club.
“But with experience, I would sign him with two contracts, one sports and the other behavioural.”
Neymar, 28, spent four years with Messi at Barcelona before his world-record £198million transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.
During that time the La Liga giants, the pair – along with Luis Suarez – formed one of the deadliest attacking trios of all time as they were crowned European and world champions in 2015.
And the defending La Liga champions have persistently been linked with a deal to bring him back to the Nou Camp.
But fans of Portuguese superstar Ronaldo will no doubt have something to say about Rosell’s stance – after all his name is always mentioned in the ‘Greatest of all Time’ debate.
The Juventus frontman turned 35 in February but smashed in 36 goals for club and country before the season was halted – 12 more than Messi and double that of Neymar.
Not to mention his five Ballons d’Or – topped only by Messi who won his sixth this year.
Neymar, on the other hand, is yet to break into the top two or the voting for world football’s most prestigious individual award, finishing third in both 2015 and 2017.
And while he may boast a stunning goalscoring record by the age of 21 with 140 goals in 227 games – comfortably more than his illustrious rivals – overall goalscoring stats weigh heavily against the Samba star.
Across Europe’s top-five leagues – therefore excluding Neymar’s time at Santos and Ronaldo’s at Sporting Lisbon – Messi has 438 goals, Ronaldo is ONE behind on 437… with Neymar far adrift on 115.
He also has the worst minutes-per-goal ratio at 127 to Ronaldo’s 101 and Messi’s simply staggering 87.
Internationally the Selecao sensation has 61 goals in 101 caps as he chases down Pele’s record haul of 77 – but it still short of Messi, with 70 in 138, and Ronaldo who is just one short of three figures with 99 in 164.
While Neymar can only manage half the number of assists as Ronaldo and around a third of Messi’s tally of 174.
It means he is directly involved in a goal every 81 minutes compared to Ronaldo’s 78 and Messi’s 62.
One stat that does go in Neymar’s favour, however, is his win ratio.
The Brazilian has won 78.3 per cent of his 175 matches in Europe’s top leagues, marginally pipping both Messi (74.7 per cent) and Ronaldo (71.9 per cent).
In terms of major team silverware, Neymar – the youngest of the three – has 12 across his spells at Barca and PSG, including five league titles.
The most recent of those was this season’s Ligue 1, awarded when the campaign was terminated early due to the coronavirus crisis.
However Messi, 32, has 23 trophies at Barcelona while Ronaldo has 20 spread across England, Spain and now Italy.
Internationally, Ronaldo boasts the best record with his Euro 2016 and 2019 Nations League triumphs topping Messi’s 2008 Olympic gold medal and the 2013 Confederations Cup Neymar won with Brazil.
Moment Neymar pranks son with egg which smashes on his head as PSG star plays during lockdown
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
