Ex-Arsenal player, Emmanuel Petit, has criticised Brazilian footballer, Neymar, for not taking over from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi like many expected.
He recently revealed that the ex-PSG forward clearly wasn’t focused on football enough to be the heir to Ronaldo and Messi’s throne.
According to him, even though he is a big fan of the skilful winger, it is obvious that Neymar basically squandered his chance to succeed the Portuguese and Argentine legend because he just wasn’t disciplined and committed enough to give what it takes.
Petit said skills and talent are never enough in football, and any promising career can be quickly forgotten if the player involved allows off-field distractions to sway his focus.
“I’m a big fan of Neymar’s qualities, he was once such a tremendous player. But he hasn’t reached the level that he should’ve.
He should’ve been winning the Ballon d’Or and competing with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and taking over after them. You can blame his injuries and his lifestyle, but he didn’t fulfil his potential,” he said.
Petit maintained that it is impossible to compare Neymar to Rivaldo who won the Ballon d’Or as a player, and the reason any comparison won’t fly is because Neymar didn’t learn to be dedicated to the game like Rivaldo was throughout his playing days.
“He had so much quality but issues off the pitch so I cannot compare him to Rivaldo. Rivaldo won the Ballon d’Or, he won the World Cup, he was an unbelievable player and reached the pinnacle because he only focused on his career.
That is the big difference between Neymar and Rivaldo, Neymar wasn’t focused on only football,” he added.
Neymar became one of the heavyweights in football after he moved from Santos to Barcelona in 2013, and he went on to score 105 goals in 186 games for the Spanish club, while winning 8 trophies, including 2 La Liga titles, 1 Champions League, and 3 Copa del Rey titles.
He then made a a world-record move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, but despite winning several league titles and leading the club to a runners-up finish in the Champions League in 2020, injuries stopped him from being the regular Ballon d’Or contender many tipped him to be after Messi and Ronaldo’s inevitable decline.
