Neymar Da Silva

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil), more commonly known simply as Neymar, is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays as a striker for Brazilian club Santos and the Brazilian national football team.


Neymar joined Santos in 2003^[2] and eventually made his first-team debut six years later aged 17 on 7 March 2009 in a 2–1 win against Oeste. He made another appearance the following week against Mogi Mirim, during which he scored his first goal for Santos. On 11 April, in the 2009 Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg against Palmeiras, Neymar scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win at Estádio Vila Belmiro.^[3] In the final however Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Corinthians.^[4]
On 15 April 2010, Neymar scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 routing of Guarani in the round of 16 of the Brazilian Cup.^[5] Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games,^[2] the club were crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals.^[6] Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition.^[7]
Neymar's performances for Santos have drawn comparisons to Brazilian idols such as Robinho and Pelé.^[8] In June 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid from English Premier League team West Ham United for his services.^[9] Neymar has also attracted interest from clubs such as Manchester United,^[10], Feyenoord, Internazionale,^[8] Real Madrid,^[8] Chelsea^[11] and Juventus, with Real Madrid even going so far as to claim that they had signed a pre-contract agreement with Neymar's agent, Renato Rodrigues,^[12] which Santos fervently denied.^[13] Following this, Santos placed a €30 million price tag on the player's head,^[12] and tied Neymar down to a new contract lasting until December 2014.^[14] Neymar himself said he did not think it was time to leave Santos, and that he was entirely focused on his current club,^[15] However, Renato Rodrigues insisted that the Santos striker does not want to stay in his home country of Brazil.^[16]
On 30 November 2010, Santos sold 5% interests on future transfer fees received to an investment group, Terceira Estrela Investimentos S.A. (TEISA), for R$ 3,549,900 (€1.5 million).^[17]
In April 2011, Neymar was sent off against Colo-Colo in the Copa Libertadores for celebrating by donning a mask of himself upside down that had been thrown onto the pitch.^[18]