Neymar at Barcelona - The early days

Neymar: Impact neutralised?

If you are a player who has cost his club £58 million, or thereabouts to make no difference, you would definitely want to make an immediate impact. And that is exactly what Barça new-boy Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, or Neymar in short, would want to do.

It’s been a month and 11 days since the start of the new season in Spain, and sufficient time has elapsed to pass judgement on the new signing.

Right from the outset, the question on everyone’s lips was, “How would Messi and Neymar play together?” And this is an important question, since much of what would make this a good signing depends on how the new “wonder-boy” gels with the established talisman.

Ever since his rise to the top, Barcelona’s play has revolved around Messi. He has been the conduit for their play, and also the provider of the end-product more often than not. Neymar’s introduction into the equation makes it much more interesting.

After all, it is not the first time that a new player of high repute has joined Barcelona with Messi already playing. Remember a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovi??

When Ibra moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2009, the world watched with baited breath as to what the combination of Zlatan and Messi would bring; after all, these are two world-class players, who are capable of turning a match onto its head by themselves.

Logic dictated that a team with both these players should be unstoppable. Alas, football rarely follows any laws except the arbitrary ones that it defines. A combination that promised so much at the outset ended in open-acrimony, as Zlatan left the club after just two seasons, one of which he spent on loan at AC Milan, the club he eventually joined.

A look at Ibra’s time at Barça reveals a hint of what went wrong. Zlatan’s main reason for becoming disenchanted with life at the Camp Nou seems to be that his Barça teammates seemed to have eyes only for Messi. One feels that Zlatan’s infamous ego and narcissistic personality could not handle the perceived gap in value existing between the two players. He left on bitter terms, and has openly maintained a less-than-friendly disposition towards the then Barça manager Pep Guardiola.