Fantastic stuff from Mark Gannon, our correspondent in Brazil. The papers are abuzz with the seemingly imminent move of Neymar to England, or will it be as smooth a transition as the European press would have us believe? Read on for Mark’s translations of the Brazilian angle (follow the links for the original articles).
Pelé, Robinho, and Sports Minister called upon to convince Neymar
The Fish” (Santos) sets up a task force to try to keep the prodigy in the Vila Belmiro. The King of Football has already made himself available to talk to the player’s father
By Adilson Barros, Santos
Santos is trying its last gambits to convince Neymar to reject Chelsea’s offer and stay in the Vila Belmiro. The club is setting up a task force that will include Pelé, Sports Minister Orlando Silva, and forward Robinho. According to two members of Santos president Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro, the three offered to contact the young Santos star and his father, Neymar dos Santos Silva, to try to talk them out of the idea of leaving the country at this moment.
Pelé promised the Santos president that he will call Neymar’s father. The Santos boss believes the weight of Pelé(‘s opinion) will be decisive. The idea is to convince Neymar’s family that the player could consolidate his position as a Santos idol, winning titles and accumulating more Seleção caps, and add value. In that way, he would have the chance to negotiate better contracts with European clubs in a few years.
The conversation with the Sports Minister will follow the same route. Orlando Silva will even use the rhetoric that Neymar is important to Brazilian sports, because he is young, a mirror for boys of his age, and represents the renewal of the Seleção. To consolidate that image, Neymar would need to stay longer in the country.
Robinho, in the vision of Santos executives, represents a practical example. He began to shine in 2002, when he was Brazilian Champ (with Santos), and stayed in the Vila Belmiro until 2005. He spent three years dribbling around the crush of foreign attention and even won another title: the 2004 Brazilian Championship. Santos officials also believe Robinho can “teach” Neymar to not let himself only consider the financial aspect of the proposals. In 2007, he left the all-powerful Real Madrid, seduced by the Pounds Sterling of the new rich kid in European Football, Manchester City. He ended up falling on his face, at least from a career point of view. If he got rich with one of the biggest salaries in world football, he also ran the risk of being left out of the World Cup, because he couldn’t play. He had to return to Santos to find himself again.
On Tuesday, there will be a meeting between Neymar, his staff, and Santos executives, who will present a career plan to the player, with a substantial raise and more triggers that increase the player’s payments according to objectives acheived (goals, titles, Seleção caps).
“The Fish” will protect itself on all fronts. For the moment, Chelsea still has not yet gotten up to the € 35 MM (R$78.7 MM) value of the rescision penalty in the player’s contract. If the English team decides to pay, what will be left for Santos is the hope that Neymar doesn’t want to go.
