₦airaland Forum

Mcleo007: Now is the best time to get Matts Hummels who just ended this season without a trophy and knows his chances at silverware next time is not on the good note. Dortmund is ready to part with some of their top players; Lewandowski, Gotze, Gundogan and some more, wch will deplete the team. He's willing to come, and we can gt him for cheap.

Mcleo007: Villa is the sole reason they can. With him, we have a natural 9 who can finish up attacking moves. Thus, against difficult teams and crafty coaches, we can play a 4-5-1 with Villa as the spearhead in attack.

A-40:
Wow seems Neymar wanted to join Barca really bad.

logica: Dude have you seen Villa lately? He doesn't have what made him the top Spanish striker anymore.

Mcleo007: Something must be wrong somewhere, and unless it is resolved, the case might travail as it is.

AjanleKoko: Let's face it, Villa is past it, and is not really relevant to our interests any more. Better he goes somewhere, where he can get more playing time, as well as a central role. He's not really doing it for us the way he should.

Congrats to the cules on Neymar's acquisition. Let's all wish him well and hope he rises to the occasion
The odds don't favor him much, everybody seems to think he's another Robinho in the making.
I won't dwell too much on that though, but would rather see the other new signings first - goalkeeper, central defender(s), new striker, and (hopefully) a competent fitness trainer. Neymar won't play in defence, midfield, and attack all by himself. In fact , I fancy he will struggle at the start. But let's still see how he does.

A-40:
New Striker?? Villa.Messi,Neymar,Pedro,Sanchez where the new striker wan play?

AjanleKoko: Villa is almost certainly out of Barca in the summer.
Alexis is likely to follow, at least while they can still get some cash for him. Pedro will most likely be relegated to the bench, depending on how things pan out.

Anyway, Bartomeu (Barca VP) has already indicated that the club is interested in signing a goalkeeper, a central defender, and a forward in the summer. Unless that forward happens to be Neymar.

dmcdad: The forward is definitely Neymar. I dont see Barca getting another forward anytime soon, at least not this summer.

AjanleKoko: On reflection, that is prolly going to be the case. But either which way, I see no point keeping Villa.
They might keep Alexis, since age is on his side and he did cost a lot. But not Villa, he's past it. Better to sell him now before he becomes difficult to get rid of.

AjanleKoko: The odds don't favor him much, everybody seems to think he's another Robinho in the making.

logica: Not true. Remember Robinho also came from Santos? Well, while Robinho was only known for making an unreasonable number of leg-overs per minute, Neymar actually was behind the best run Santos had since the time of Pele!

logica: Not true. Remember Robinho also came from Santos?Well, while Robinho was only known for making an unreasonable number of leg-overs per minuteNeymar actually was behind the best run Santos had since the time of Pele!

AjanleKoko: I'm referring to Robinho's monumental flop in Europe.
There was a huge buzz that followed him from Santos to Madrid, to City, and by the time he was off to Milan, everyone was fed up already. The sporting press seem to think Neymar will travel a similar road.

logica: I understand you. What I mean is, I don't agree they will travel similar route simply because Neymar delivered for Santos. Unlike Robinho. You cannot compare their achievements. Winning is a habit that is difficult to forget and Neymar has proven he is a winner. He knows how to grind out wins; and helped Santos on their best run since Pele. Remember Robinho was there before him.

Robinho is best compared to Denilson who had barely won anything and therefore not well tested enough before being brought to Europe on an outrageous transfer fee (simply based on promise and the skill of leg-overs). Real Betis is still yet to recover from the Denilson blunder.

Johnpaul88: Don't mind the bias articles being put up by Goal.com about how monumental the failure of Neymar have been set up in Barcelona.

If you read the article, you will immediately notice that had Neymar joined another team other than Barcelona, that article will never have been written. Articles you would have seen instead is how Neymar will fit in Real Madrid team, Chealse or ManU team or other similar positive articles. It's all beef!

There 's no evidence why Neymar will fail in Barcelona. Only few players not even Messi, have scored over 150 senior career goals at tender age of 21, no matter where the goals were scored.

If the coaching staff handles him right, he will not be a success, but a huge success.

AjanleKoko: Hard not to be skeptical of Brazilian players, when you think about Robinho, and Adriano.

logica: I understand you. What I mean is, I don't agree they will travel similar route simply because Neymar delivered for Santos. Unlike Robinho. You cannot compare their achievements. Winning is a habit that is difficult to forget and Neymar has proven he is a winner. He knows how to grind out wins; and helped Santos on their best run since Pele. Remember Robinho was there before him..

dayokanu: Robinho and Diego also painted Santos red with goals and awesome performances before flopping in Europe

dayokanu: Robinho and Diego also painted Santos red with goals and awesome performances before flopping in Europe

Mcleo007: Acquiring him, for me is a smart business move. He comes very close to Messi and CR7 in terms of player marketability. At his very tender age, look at the many endorsements and image rights he's managed to gulp. Kudos to Rosell and the Barca board for pulling this one out successfully.

logica: Dude have you read the news lately? He's even ranked higher than Messi in marketability!

Mcleo007: Not read of that.. If at all, such a source is dubious. Messi is currently the hghest earner in world football in terms of gross earnings from endorsements.

In all, what we have are play out factors. So many what ifs, which equals to nuffin real and concrete. Nobody knws for sure whether Neymar would turn out good or not.

My only concern is the on pitch effect of having a Messi-Neymar on the same reason end of an attacking move. Both players enjoy being the focal point, how will one bend for the other? Not that alone, we have the country rivalry; Brazil/Argentina, which opens a recourse to the Pele/Maradona comparison since both stars bear liking semblance to the old familiar foes.

Both players are good no doubt but having two captains on the same boat has been proven to lead to disaster time and again.

"I am a Messi fan. I was told what he did today. I support him to score a lot of nice goals so I can keep copying and imitating him."

On 8 May 2013, Neymar was rated by SportsPro magazine as the most marketable athlete in the world, ahead of Lionel Messi (2rd) and Cristiano Ronaldo (8th)