Neymar Junior’s departure – A blessing or a curse?

21/08/2017

The departure of Barcelona’s star Neymar Junior shocked the whole world. An even bigger shock was the ridiculous transfer fee. But the main question on everyone’s mind right now is who will replace the prodigy?

Playing 30 games for F.C. Barcelona, Neymar has scored 13 goals and given 11 assists. It takes Neymar only 64 minutes to score a goal or create an assist. What is even more astounding about Neymar is his ability to step up in big situations. The score on the board showed 5-1 in favour of FC Barcelona. The match was coming to an end.  The fans of FC Barcelona were tensed with sweat dripping down their forehead. FC Barcelona was tied 5-5 aggregate against PSG. If Barcelona did not score, PSG would qualify because they had scored more away goals. The ball comes to Neymar Junior. Neymar dances past two PSG players. His touches are eloquent and filled with great flair. He then crosses the ball into the air. The crowd takes a deep breath in as the ball flies softly through the air. The ball flies slowly through the air yet it is flying with a great purpose. The sea that once represented the PSG players parts way as the champion league football effortlessly drifts across. Not even the greatest storm could deter the ball from reaching its target. All Sergio Roberto, a 25-year-old full-back has to do is touch the ball and his name is engraved in history….and he does just that. FC Barcelona goes to the next round. The fans of the club go wild. PSG fans stare in disbelief, sports journalist hurry to describe the moment, Real Madrid fans shake their head.

We should keep in mind that Neymar is only 25 years old. So, he has the whole world in front of him. Not many can replace Neymar. The one player Barcelona are pursuing aggressively is Phillipe Coutinho. Coutinho has played 28 games and scored 13 goals and given 7 assists. While like explained previously, Neymar has bagged 13 goals and given 11 assists. When looking at the goals count we can see that both players have scored the same amount of goals and nearly given the same number of assists. One might think that both players have the same amount of skills. Yet when researched, we can find that Neymar may well be the best in his position.

	Neymar	Coutinho
Goals Scored	13	13
Assists	10	7
Total shots	106	105
Total passes	1487	1386
Chances Created	89	65
Ariel Duels won	9	7
Key passes	79	58
Tackles won	32	25
Tackles lost	42	67
Ariel Duels won	35%	18%

Neymar has a higher total number of passes, higher quantity of chances created, a higher number of key passes, higher duels won, higher tackles won, higher Ariel duels won than Phillipe Coutinho.

In fact, for Neymar’s position (A left winger), he is the second best. In first place being, of course, Crisitano Ronaldo.

Yet buying Coutinho isn’t exactly a bad plan. Coutinho does display a higher work rate than Neymar and is actively present in defence. Also, he has a better discipline record than Neymar. Have a look at the below stats:

	Neymar	Coutinho
Successful take-ones	61	64
Interceptions	11	18
Clearance	3	18
Yellow cards	8	3
Red cards	1	0
Fouls committed	34	18

When Neymar left for PSG in hopes for stardom away from Messi’s shadow. It created a big hole in the squad of FC Barcelona. The Little Magician (Coutinho) will cover much of the hole left by Neymar. Especially in the aspects of defence. Also, Ernesto Valverde will not have to worry much about Coutinho’s discipline. Yet the passion, flair, skills, ability to pick and give passes will be gravely missed by the fans, players and the manager of FC Barcelona.

Personally, I think Neymar made a right choice. Moving to PSG gives him an opportunity to create an identity for himself. Having continued in Barcelona, playing better alongside Messi he would have always remained as a sidekick. PSG gives him an opportunity to go from Robin to Batman. Can he do it?