Where to Neymar? I know you´ve been thinking about leaving the nest.
Santos is a great club, there´s no denying it´s pedigree what with Pelé spending his entire career there, but this isn´t 1966 and a great player like yourself can´t measure himself up against the greats without playing in Europe.



Some players leave too early, you know Alexandre Pato and of course Robinho, and you´re no Robinho, but you don´t want to wait until after the Brasil World Cup to move along. You´ll be 22 and it´ll still take you a few years to adjust to Europe.
That said, I know you have Spain in your heart, it´s a great choice considering it´s the perfect place to showcase your skills as a player, and both Italy and England would be wrong choices at the get-go for you. So the question where to in Spain. None of the mid-range clubs can afford you I´m sad to say. It might have been nice
to have seen you in Valencia black-and-white or in Atléti rojiblanco, but let´s be reasonable, there are only two real choices for a player of your Q-rating: Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The Case For Barcelona

I know playing in their system calls to you, a great attacking player wants to be at a club that has the confidence to trust in its attacking players to do what their instinct tells them, or at least that´s what looking on them as they destroy your Copa Libertadores winning side tells you. It´s not a system you´ll
just pick up in a couple of days, weeks, or even years. What they do may seem like instinct, but that´s from years of muscle-memory. Even Cesc Fabregas who had been away in England for most of the last decade is still a product of their academy. He and Messi were team-mates when they were still practically in diapers. It´s not that foreign players take time to adjust in Barcelona, even the greatest goal-scorer in
Spanish history David Villa has struggled to maintain his prior form in a side that values the team ethic more and shies away from
establishing one point of attack. It´s not personal, Pep doesn´t
really hate Thierry Henry, or Zlatan Ibrahimovic either for that
matter, well maybe he hates Zlatan, but it´s not personal, it´s
business and the business model in Barcelona is that the system is
more important than the player. Well, maybe the exception is Lionel
Messi come to think of it, and that´s also a problem. Do you want to
be just another in a line of players that carries the bucket so that
Messi can put out the barn-fire? I didn´t think so.

Madrid Perhaps

So then the obvious choice is Real Madrid, then? Not so fast. Madrid is the destination, or a destination if you want to consider that considering the fact that you want a club that you can make your own mark at, but not now. It´s not just that José Mourinho isn´t the best developer of new talent, or that like with Barcelona, another player has already won the hearts of the supporters in Cristiano Ronaldo, but it´s all of that and the act that it´s Madrid; the night-clubs and the bars will be a great distraction for a hip youngster like yourself. Forget Las Vegas, Madrid is really the city that never sleeps, neither will its press. One minute you´ll be DiStefano´s heir and the next they´ll be raking you over the coals for your wastefulness. It´s a rough landing ahead in you choose to make it yours.


Doing the Right Thing

Do what´s right for yourself Neymar. Take the road that your countryman Ronaldo did. I´m not saying you should go to Holland or to PSV Eindhoven specifically, the comparison is not the same because 20 years ago PSV and the Dutch League were not where they are today, but you should definitely find a club that can build with your image and you could compete on the highest stage, the Champions League stage, but not have too much pressure on your young career to have it stall before it´s barely begun. Of course, make the trek to Spain eventually, but make that your final destination. Heck even the best online sportsbooks are unsure of the final destination but in the mean-time, find a club like AS Roma which is trying to change its very Italian identity for a more Mediterranean style, or even AC Milan which is
desperate for that one singular talent since Kaká left, but ignore the money that unfinished projects like PSG or even Manchester City will offer. Find a club that will grow with you, but do it quickly because your career is waiting.