It is a funny little world that we live in. When Ronaldinho was still donning the red and blue of Barcelona, few thought that a player could emerge and take over from him. In fact, there were times when it seemed like Ronaldinho would go on to become the greatest player of all time, making it impossible to find a true successor.
However, his over-flamboyant lifestyle cut short his peak years, but the blow wasn’t even felt by the Cules as a little genius from Argentina had already taken over the mantle.
The memory of Lionel Messi’s growth over the years feels as fresh as dew-drop adorned flowers during sunrise. The little kid from the youth ranks of La Masia is now the club’s greatest ever player––far exceeding the feats that Ronaldinho achieved at Barcelona.
The cycle repeated itself, a déjà vu of sorts, as Barca fans began questioning as to who could possibly succeed La Pulga at the Camp Nou. Players like Lionel Messi come once in a generation, so a cheeky anomaly in favour of the Catalans was what the Camp Nou faithful were praying for.
They say that faith can move mountains—and something similar happened in Catalonia as Barcelona found the man to take over from Lionel Messi: Neymar.
The Brazilian has been so important for the Catalans that they haven’t lost a single game in which he has played since October. This is a testament to his importance at the Camp Nou.
With 15 goals and 18 assists in 37 games so far this season, he might not be scoring like team-mates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, but his contribution to the team’s attack is invaluable. He makes 5.3 successful dribbles in every match, something which is very apparent when one watches a Barcelona game.
In the 79th minute against Granada a week ago, Neymar did something only he could do. Hassling back deep in his own half’s left-flank, he won the ball from a Granada player, then finished another with a nutmeg as he raged on a warpath in a seemingly unstoppable manner.
The only way that you could stop Neymar at his sizzling best is by brute force—and that’s what they exactly did by fouling the Brazilian to the ground.
The Brazilian has always had to face such brutality, right from the Brazilian league. Even at a young age, he was too hot to handle for the Brazilian league defenders and the only way they knew, if nothing else worked, was to be physical.
It was due to his incredible flamboyance and efficiency with the ball that Real Madrid went absolutely berserk to sign him from Santos. He was the best player outside Europe and there was no way that Florentino Perez wouldn’t do all he could to sign the Brazil international.
In the end, however, Barcelona nabbed him from right under Florentino Perez’s nose—and that didn’t bode well with the construction magnate.
Perez is a man whose ego is perhaps bigger than the size of Russia. In the transfer market, Perez has almost always had his way, but losing his dearest transfer target to eternal rivals was a blow he couldn’t possibly move on from.
And so he decided to sign the next best alternative: The best player in the English Premiership, Gareth Frank Bale.
At the time of their arrival in Spain in 2013, Gareth Bale was the better and more established of the two players as he had won already won the best player of the Premiership award twice in a row. And it showed. His insane run in the Copa Del Rey final won Real Madrid the trophy and they also ended up winning the Champions League in Bale’s first season.
Bale ended the season with 22 goals and 16 assists in 44 games. Those numbers look even better considering the fact that the Welshman missed majority of the first half of the season at the club.
Barca, meanwhile, ended up without a single trophy that season and Neymar’s numbers were less impressive than Bale’s, scoring only 11 goals and providing 13 assists in 36 games.
Perez had won, he was having the laugh…but it wasn’t the last laugh because the very next season itself, Barcelona won a treble in a campaign where the Brazilian was perhaps their best player, scoring 33 goals and providing 8 assists in 47 games.
Right now, watching Neymar come of age and perform like that every week, Perez might feel a little bit of regret about not being able to sign him. That feeling perhaps gets stronger when he witnesses Gareth Bale cut a forlorn figure on the right-hand side of Real Madrid’s attack every other week, scoring just 9 and providing only 3 assists in 23 games so far this season.
It wasn’t always like this. In fact, it isn’t always like this. The Welshman has displayed some real brilliance over the years, but constant injuries have ensured hiccups in his growth at the club. He has phases where he plays fantastically, but then an injury obstructs him and ultimately hampers that form.
Playing after recovering from an injury is like starting from scratch when it comes to picking up form. And Gareth Bale has been doing this at least two to three times every season. It is for this reason that he hasn’t, yet, taken over the reins from Cristiano Ronaldo.
And the worst part is: Considering his proneness to injuries, it doesn’t look like he can ever do it.
With Neymar, however, Barcelona already have a competent replacement for Lionel Messi. The Brazilian is already taking up responsibility and there are times when it feels like the Blaugranas have the best two players in the world playing alongside each other. And in Messi’s absence, Neymar almost always steps up.
In contrast, when Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale play together, the cohesion from Bale’s first season is missing. And when the Portuguese doesn’t play, the former Southampton player doesn’t exude the impression of a leader as his performances don’t really translate into ground-breaking or match-winning.
Both players arrived in Spain at the same time, but while Bale’s career at the capital was off to a flying start, he is yet to hit his peak. Meanwhile, Neymar has leapfrogged his way in front of the Wales international. And by the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like Bale will catch up anytime soon.
