Neymar could, in theory, return to action on September 14

September 14 is a date marked in red by Paris Saint Germain fans and probably also by Neymar. In theory, the player returns home. If for your own home you can consider a stadium that has begun to be hostile since your first flirtations with Barcelona were known, with a clear intention of returning. A stadium in which the faithful of the Parisian team begin to feel uncomfortable with a player who accumulates more news for the events section of Le Monde than for the reputed L’Equipe.A Neymar who can not even start the Champions League – this sanctioned with three games – and that has left scenes as unfortunate as the blow to an amateur after losing the Cup final or frivolities, just a few days ago, to point out as the best day of his career that elimination of PSG at the hands of Barcelona .

A stadium that has already been manifested with banners – “Neymar casse toi”, “Neymar, go” -, a rare occurrence when the player who is in question is nothing more and nothing less than the flagship of a whole project, however much the shadow of Mbappé is increasingly elongated. The panorama presented to Neymar is so depressing, after having been in the auction period during the summer, that everything that does not correspond to sports grounds will sound shortly convincing. The mitigating of the injuries could be applied to him, but the dispensation of not having played a single League match – four days have been played – and having done so with Brazil in the selection period leaves his physical state in a weak argument. If you have not played with the PSG it has been for a pure instinct of protection sponsored by the parties.

The club did not want to expose it during the market period and, of course, nobody thought of doing it at home. And when the club asked for a first step, as a sign of goodwill and reconciliation, the player got in profile. In the Park of the Princes, on the first day of the championship, banners of retaliation were already hung for their lack of commitment. The question is how Neymar will be received on September 14, at half past five in the afternoon, in front of Strasbourg. Something that could mark his future. Good numbers Although Neymar’s sports performance is severed by injuries at the individual level, and by the failure in the Champions League, at the collective level, it cannot be said that his contest was not that of a first sword in the Paris Saint Germain. In addition to good performances that are not measured only by statistics, Neymar has scored 34 goals and has given 21 assists in 37 league games and 11 goals and five assists in the 13 games he has played in the Champions League. Figures more than respectable and that confirm him as one of the best players of his team.

The problem is that, apart from the Cup games, the injuries and their cheeks, which have cost him penalties, have only allowed him to play 50 games in two seasons between the league and the Champions League, a low figure in football current. A hurtful figure, in addition, if compared with the performance of players who could be their equals, such as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Precisely, one of the characteristics of these is its overwhelming regularity, day after day. The detractors of Neymar can also affirm that those 37 games and 34 goals in a league tournament like Spanish or English are not the same, compared to French Ligue 1, considered a minor tournament and easily accessible for a club with the power of the PSG. However, those who see him train, guarantee that there is a Neymar footballer who works, does not miss a single session and shows a desire for progress and to continue improving and another that is exposed in excess and of which his life and miracles in the gossip section, when not of courts, and that the player himself feeds with details of his private sphere to the more than 70 million followers who monopolize in their different social networks. Why the character ended up devouring the footballer is what bothers the dominant class of Paris Saint Germain and that, even so, with the current scenario, he sees him as a recoverable and current footballer to lead a project whose main objective is Almost unique to win the Champions League.

An interested patience Any other club in the Paris Saint Germain situation would have succumbed to the temptation to enter the Barcelona game. Recover, two years later, a good part of the investment, of those 222 million that changed the rules of the market forever, and take advantage of the services of Rakitic and some other player that cannot be considered a dilapidated business. Different to. They may regret over time. However, the French club has always given the impression of holding the reins with a firm pulse. He has asked for an amount higher than the market price and has not shown any inconvenience in staying with a player who has bordered the rebellion. The reasons should be sought outside the field of play. The marketing strategy offered by a player like Neymar is very ambitious in economic terms. The PSG has recently signed a contract with Nike that provides income of 75 million euros a year. Also, the team shirt, which will now bear the logo of the Accor hotel company, will provide 50 million. The same applies to MSC Cruises, which will be present at the stadium and to which players must lend their image. All these agreements were closed before the Neymar case broke out and, surely, the contracts were signed with the guarantee that the Brazilian would be in the team.

Paris Saint Germain used a good part of last winter to look for new financing and income lines that would allow it to pass the fair financial game test that threatens its structure due to high salaries. And in all this positioning, the figure of Neymar is key beyond his injuries, displacements and yields below the expected. Even without good sports profitability, the Brazilian remains a mine. Being your friend, a job Fan perception, however, is very different. It is only necessary to see how in Barcelona fans were divided between professionals and anti-Neymar, giving the latter a large majority without doing an accurate sociology exercise. Both Barça and PSG fans observe with suspicion the toxicity of the Neymar environment. Beginning with the excessive ambition of his father and continuing with the ineffable Toiss, the group of friends that accompanies the player since he left Brazil.

Being a friend of Neymar has become a job. A paid job for which children charge between four and six thousand euros a month. They are introduced into the network of companies that exploit Neymar’s rights, ranging from marketing to the representation of Brazilian artists and giving them a white card to form a kind of second-player family, as they accompany it wherever they Go and they participate in the events in which the soccer player is immersed. Legendary are his card games and his eccentricities. In Barcelona they came to call a casino to provide them with a poker table and when they were denied the whim, they requested the services of a dealer, something to which the playhouse did have access. Many of these episodes are immortalized thanks to social networks. At first, it caused some stupor to see how at the Camp Nou or at the Parc des Princes, the group of friends was posing as a football team. Or as on a yacht, on the banks of Saint Tropez, the gang waited for the century to cross to materialize with the tranquility that impunity gives to those who believe they are untouchable. Only time and your athletic performance will determine if you are able to reverse a reality with too many limits. So many that he has created a maze that has taken him away from his main objective: to make PSG a winning team and become the best footballer in the world.