My thoughts on the Neymar Situation

He is easily one of the most recognisable players in football. At age 20, he has already won the South American player of the year for 2011 and has even been nominated for the Ballon d'Or. One would logically expect that a player of his calibre would be plying his trade at the best clubs in the world. Is he at Barcelona? Is he at Real Madrid? How about Bayern Munich? Well the truth is, the player who has been rated the 'next Leo Messi' plays at Santos; a good club in Brazil but not at the world stage.

Its not that Neymar has not been linked with a move to Europe's best. Infact I am not sure which major European club he has not been linked with (maybe Arsenal). Despite all the interest though, Neymar has remained in Brazil. There are a number of factors responsible the most notable of which is Pele. I recall reading several interviews from Brazil's football icon asking Neymar to turn down the lucrative offers from Europe and instead stay at Santos. Initially it made sense. A young player should first build his name before making one of them big money moves. Pele was probably also concerned about Neymar's maturity at that time and felt he needed more games before he could make a mark on European football. But now, I feel his comments are quite ridiculous. Neymar is now 20 and that is age when gifted players start performing on the big stage. Having scored 117 goals for santos and 25 for the Brazilian national team, it's safe to say that Neymar is ready for a bigger challenge. Preventing a move now would only impede his development.

Having said that though, Neymar should make sure he transfers to a club where he will get enough game time. Many bright prospects move to a big club but finally end up glued to the substitutes bench.I feel he should consider a club that has a strong attacking mentality but do not have many players in attacking positions.

Neymar's got the talent, he has got the publicity and he has got the flair to be one of the best. But to truly reach his potential, he needs a bigger challenge; a challenge that can only be found in Europe. If Neymar plays his cards right, we could witness the birth of another Brazilian footballing great.

Why is Real Madrid CF so valuable?

In spite of being Europe's most successful club, Real Madrid CF has not experienced the best of times. They have not won a Champions League trophy in 9 years not to forget the fact that their last La Liga trophy was in 2008. To compound such a dismal run, Real Madrid as of 2010 have incurred a debt of 244 million euros. Considering all the above data, one would wonder as to how they are still rated the second most valuable football club behind Manchester United. According to me, the main reason why Real Madrid  is so valuable is that when a person purchases a club like Real Madrid, they are essentially buying money. This may seem absurd but it is infact very true. When a person purchases Real, they buy the entire club which includes players, stadium and revenue from merchandise and television rights. With a club like Real, these constitute a huge sum of money. A player like Cristiano Ronaldo has a buyout clause of 1 billion euros which in essence means that if a club wanted to force Real Madrid to sell the Portugese winger, they would have to fork over a ridiculous price which could hurt the pockets of even some of the wealthiest people on the planet. Ronaldo is just one such player. Real Madrid's roster include the likes of Kaka,Ozil,Benzema,Casillas and the list goes on. Not to forget that the Santiago Bernabeu could be in your possession. All these factors is why I think that Real Madrid is still one of the most valuable football clubs on the planet. 

Free Search Engine Submission