Neymar: Will he become a Barcelona great or fall wayside like Villa and Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has won 10 league titles in 12 seasons in four different countries. In his career, there has only been one place he didn’t shine, and that was in the shadow of Lionel Messi. Zlatan had already excelled as a central striker for Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, and Inter Milan by the time he arrived at Barcelona in 2009. However relinquishing the central forward position to Messi did not suit him and Barcelona had to ship him out to Milan after just a year.

His place was taken by Valencia’s center-forward, the Spanish World Cup winner David Villa. Villa had scored more than 250 goals as a central striker for Sporting Gijon, Zaragoza, Valencia and Spain. He knew when he arrived at Barcelona that he would be playing as a wide attacker, with Messi in the middle, and he started well. But his scoring rate dipped and although he had won a handful of titles at Barca, he eventually became less important for Barca and in the summer he joined Atletico Madrid.

So when Neymar was signed for €57 million from Santos, many people were apprehensive if Neymar and Messi can shine together. At Santos and Brazil, the teams have been built around Neymar, in very much the same way as Barca accommodate Messi. Thus, Neymar has two missions at Barcelona. First, he must fit into the world’s most sophisticated team without disturbing its delicate ecosystem and playing second fiddle to Messi. Second, he must keep playing the kind of football that persuaded Barcelona to pay €57 million for him.

Sure, Neymar faces much more difficult challenges in La Liga and the Champions League than he did playing with Santos in Brazil. But he has proven during his time with the Brazilian national team that no competition is too overwhelming for him. He lit up the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup this summer and has 26 goals and 18 assists in just 42 appearances with the senior squad on the international stage. At Santos, he had scored 136 goals since 2009, playing as a teenager for most of those years. It’s a phenomenal number: three times as many as the 21-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo and also ahead of where Messi was at 21.

Despite having appeared in 10 games already this season, Neymar has managed to score only 2 goals. This might prove that the detractors were right that the phenomenal scoring rate might reduce but we should keep in mind that though the 21-year-old is not yet the goal scorer he was at Santos, he has been one of the most influential players for the Catalan club. Neymar is contributing in his own way thus far and Neymar has already provided five assists this season.
In Messi, Barca has a player who contributed to 40 percent of their goals tally during the 2012/13 season. Such over-reliance on one man is disturbing, so Neymar, though impressive in the creator role, must provide a healthy contribution towards the total goals scored.

Last season Barcelona had a real issue to deal with as none of the wingers seemed to step up and earn a regular starting place. Not having regular starters beside Lionel Messi caused confusion. It seemed as though the forwards spent the entire season learning how to play beside each other. With Neymar that has completely changed. The youngster has provided a cutting edge on the left side that was previously non-existent.

In the last few seasons, Barcelona has struggled against teams that sit back and park the bus. Spacing was always needed to beat a packed defense, but there was never anyone who could really force spacing. Neymar’s ability to play on the touchline is already creating holes for his teammates, which has paid dividends already this season. As long as Neymar can continue to draw defenders out of position, there will always be chances for Barcelona.

Above anything else, Neymar has finally given Lionel Messi an ideal partner. Whether it is creating space for Messi, drawing the attention of defenders or setting up chances, Neymar is doing it all. Messi is already reaping the rewards of having someone like Neymar beside him and the partnership is quickly blossoming into something beautiful. With Messi and Neymar working together, opponents really don’t stand a chance. Neymar may not be scoring lots of goals for Barcelona, but it is safe to say that he has arrived to take the world by storm alongside Messi.