Neymar

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Neymar
Personal information

Full name	Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior
Date of birth	5 February 1992 (age 19)
Place of birth	Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) ^[1]
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Santos
Number	11
Youth career
2003–2009	Santos
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2009–	Santos	67	(30)
National team^‡
2009	Brazil U17	3	(1)
2011	Brazil U20	7	(9)
2010–	Brazil	10	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 August 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 August 2011

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo), commonly known simply as Neymar or Neymar Jr., is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a forward for Santos and the Brazilian national football team.

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Career

Neymar's performances for Santos have drawn comparisons to Brazilian idols such asRobinho and Pelé.^[2] In June 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid from English Premier League team West Ham United for his services.^[3] Neymar has also attracted interest from clubs such as Manchester United,^[4] Milan, Internazionale,^[2] Real Madrid,^[2] Chelsea^[5]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,^[6] which Santos fervently denied.^[7] Following this, Santos placed a €30 million price tag on the player's head,^[6] and tied Neymar down to a new contract lasting until December 2014.^[8] Neymar himself said he did not think it was time to leave Santos, and that he was entirely focused on his current club,^[9] However, Renato Rodrigues insisted that the Santos striker does not want to stay in his home country of Brazil.^[10]

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).^[11] DIS Group (subsidiary of Sonda Group, a Brazil supermarket chain), investment partner of Santos in recent years, bought 40% sporting rights from Neymar's family in 2009.^[12]

Luis Álvaro, the Santos president, recently said that he is trying to encourage Neymar to sign a "life-contract" this season that will keep him in the club until he is 80 years old. Luis Álvaro also said that he will never let Neymar to go to European clubs: "He is the Pelé of Brazil and he has to defend his country's prestige in 2014 World Cup. He and others like him don't have the right to waste their energies for Europe and bring their tiredness's to their national teams."

International career

Following Neymar's performances for Brazil's U-17 team at the 2009 U-17 World Cup in which he scored a goal in the opening match againstJapan^[13] former Brazilian football players Pelé and Romário reportedly urged coach Dunga to take Neymar to the 2010 World Cup.^[9]^[14]Although the widespread opinion that Neymar deserved a place in Dunga's squad went as far as a 14,000 signature petition,^[9]^[15] and despite the huge pressure on Dunga to pick Neymar,^[16] he was omitted from both the squad of 23,^[17]^[18] and the stand-by list.^[19] Although Dunga described Neymar as "extremely talented", he claimed that he had not been tested sufficiently on the international level to earn a World Cup spot and he had failed to impress enough while on international duty.^[20]^[21]

On 26 July 2010, Neymar was selected for the first time in the Brazil senior team by new head coach Mano Menezes for a friendly match against the United States to be played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. On 10 August 2010 he made his debut with the national team in that game, aged 18 years old, starting the match and wearing the number 11 jersey. He scored on his debut after 28 minutes, a header coming from an André Santos cross in a 2–0 win for Brazil.^[22]

Neymar celebrates a goal for Brazil againstScotland in March 2011 with Andre Santos andRamires

On 27 March 2011, he scored twice in a 2–0 win against Scotland at the Emirates Stadium.^[23] During the match against Scotland, a banana was thrown onto the pitch after a penalty was taken, which Neymar claimed was an act of racism from a Scottish fan.^[24]However a German student later admitted to throwing the banana. This led to the Scottish Football Association asking the Brazilian Football Confederation for an apology for the accusations made to the Scottish fans.^[25]

He took part at the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, where he scored two goals in the first round game against Ecuador.

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 August 2010	New Meadowlands Stadium,New Jersey, United States	United States	1–0	2–0	Friendly
2	27 March 2011	Emirates Stadium, London, England	Scotland	1–0	2–0	Friendly
3	27 March 2011	Emirates Stadium, London, England	Scotland	2–0	2–0	Friendly
4	14 June 2011	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Cordoba, Argentina	Ecuador	2–1	4–2	2011 Copa America
5	14 June 2011	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Cordoba, Argentina	Ecuador	4–2	4–2	2011 Copa America
6	10 August 2011	Mercedes-Benz Arena,Stuttgart, Germany	Germany	2–3	2–3	Friendly