The point, however, is that, for the first time, Neymar’s field side is increasingly uncertain. He reaches 30 with 13 years of career, 401 goals scored in official games, 215 assists and 31 titles. These are impressive numbers, especially for the Brazilian team, in which he is the second top scorer in history, with 70 goals in 116 games.
But compared to other superstars, these numbers are lower. By the time he turned 30, Messi had already scored 565 goals for Barcelona and Argentina. Cristiano Ronaldo had scored 463 goals. Pelé, also at the age of 30, scored 635 goals in official games for clubs and national teams – counting friendlies, the King had 1054 goals for Santos and the Brazilian national team.
Had he maintained the high number of goals from the beginning of his career, Neymar could even be close to Messi and CR7. But in recent years, PSG’s number 10’s income has been falling. In his last three seasons (2019-2021), Neymar scored 56 goals. In the previous three-year period, the striker scored 97 goals (2016-2018), 118 goals (2013-2015) and 127 goals (2010-2012), for clubs and the Brazilian national team in official matches.
This difference is not exactly a drop in production, but in presence. Since joining PSG in 2017, he has been left out in more than 50% of games due to injury. In the Brazilian team, in the current cycle for the 2022 World Cup, he was left out of 16 of Tite’s team’s 42 games — the 2019 Copa América, in which he faced a rape accusation that was eventually filed, is part of those absences.
The bright side is that, on the field, he still corresponded. Since 2017, when he joined PSG, he has maintained an average of 0.63 goals per game. But in 2021, in 46 games there were only 17 goals, an average of 0.37 – the lowest since 2009, his first season as a professional.
With compilation of statistics by Rodolfo Rodrigues
–
