The admiration and mutual respect that Philippe Coutinho and Neymar have for each other’s game is no secret. They’ve been close friends for almost 10 years now, their friendship dating all the way back to the time of embarrassing bathroom selfies, a formative point for anyone in their awkward teenage years.
Neymar has been making all sorts of headlines recently, which in and of itself is not unusual. He's one of the most famous soccer players in the world. It would be weird if Neymar wasn't making headlines.
The headlines that Neymar is generating at this particular moment, though, are quite interesting, as it seems half of them are reporting that he had talks with Real Madrid regarding a possible move. The other half are, obviously, reporting that hell will freeze over before the young Brazilian engages in such talks with Los Blancos.
Neymar got a new haircut. This in and of itself is not super noteworthy. Neymar gets new haircuts all the time.
What is noteworthy is how Neymar's partners on the Barcelona forward line, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, reacted to Neymar's new look, which looks kid of like a starter version of an '80s rocker mullet, with the sides shaved and the top and back slightly grown out.
Brazilian footballing sensation Neymar is, if you didn’t know, the man. The homie. A ladies man. The guy that half the world wants to be friends with and the other half wants to sleep with. Just strolling through his Instagram cements this perception of him.
The past was always better. That seems to sum up Pelé’s vision of modern soccer. He said that nowadays he would be a much better player than he was in his day because there is more preparation and care for footballers.
In a recent interview with Marca, Brazilian icon Ronaldinho reflected on Neymar's role with the Brazil National Team and concluded, "Without doubt, Neymar is already my heir."
"He is performing in that role and he has been for many years," Ronaldinho said. "He is a great player and he will be the face of Brazil for plenty of seasons to come."
Luis Enrique stands on the touchline and watches FC Barcelona’s tremendous troika of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar (MSN) nearly every day in matches and in training.
And yet, the Blaugrana boss remains amazed at what the trio can accomplish when they are at their best.
“They are the best in the world,” Enrique told the press recently. “They have a great understanding and when they don’t all score [in a match] they’re not happy.”
Neymar is simply stunning to watch play. He is everything that we hope a Brazilian superstar would be: creative, unpredictable, lightning on the pitch. He was just ranked as the third-best footballer in the world by The Guardian because he marries these qualities with effectiveness. It’s ironic then, that arguably Neymar’s best play of the year wound up ineffective.
It’s been fascinating to see Neymar grow as a player. Once a teenager in Brazil that was capable of pulling off ridiculous goals against subpar competition, he is now a young man in Spain playing for Barcelona, pulling off even more ridiculous goals against world-class defenders. But for all of the success he has on the pitch, he is still humble, and that is what Neymar’s new tattoo reinforces.
Barcelona have perhaps the greatest forward line ever assembled, but for how much longer?
According to The Sun (so take this information with however many grains of salt you feel are appropriate), Barcelona's wage bill is 73 percent of its total revenue.
The Sun also reported that Barca are planning a £423 million renovation of the Camp Nou.