There is no doubt that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are still the top two soccer players in the world today. However, after scoring another goal that will pass into legend, Neymar has fans everywhere wondering how much longer until he catches up to those two.
Some radicals, like legendary Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos, already claim that Neymar is the better of the three.
"People always talk about the same ones (Messi and Ronaldo) but I would speak about Neymar," Roberto Carlos told reporters. "For me the best is Neymar."
Sure, there is still a (perhaps) long road ahead of Neymar in the quest to surpass the other two. Yet, when we compare his performance to that of a 23-year-old Messi and a 23-year-old Ronaldo, it becomes even harder to deny that Neymar’s destiny is to become as good, if not better than Messi and Ronaldo.
Stats: Neymar vs. Messi And Ronaldo
Spanish newspaper Marca recently released an infographic comparing the career of the three superstars when they were 23.
Via MARCA
The statistic that first jumps to the eye is their goals per game average. Ronaldo, who was still at Manchester United and would go on to claim the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year award, had an average of 0.36 goals per match at that point of his career.
At 23, Messi had already claimed two out of his four Ballon d’Ors. The Argentine was not only ahead of Ronaldo in awards, but also in his goals per match average with 0.55.
Nevertheless, despite being the only one of the three without a Balon d’Or or a World Player of the Year award, Neymar still managed to take the cake numbers wise. The Brazilian has an average of goals superior to both Messi and Ronaldo with 0.57.
Now, let’s come back to 2015 and see how Neymar is on track to rival Messi and Ronaldo in the run for the title of best player in the world.
Does @neymarjr deserve to win the Ballon d'Or? His @WhoScored stats are impressive: https://t.co/luOecVTsXM pic.twitter.com/RnDRJ3hYH2
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) November 10, 2015Since Nov. 22 of 2014 (when the judging period of the 2015 Ballon d’Or starts), all three of them have surpassed the 40 games played mark. Messi has 43, Neymar 45, and Ronaldo 48.
The Portuguese and the Argentinian are far ahead when the topic is total goals scored. Messi netted 45 goals and Ronaldo tallied a stunning 50 goals according to WhoScored.com. Neymar, on the other hand, has 33 goals under his belt.
What he lacks in the total humber of goals scored, Neymar makes up with efficiency. Yes, Ronaldo and Messi always score a boatload of goals year in and year out, but what always seems to slip from these talks is how many shots they actually take to score all those goals.
While netting 50 goals is a magnificent mark, the 312 shots Ronaldo took to score those goals also is an astounding a number. That’s 102 more shots than Messi had to take in order to score his 45 goals.
Their conversion rates are 16 percent and 21.4 percent respectively. Neymar has a better conversion rate than both of them at 22.1 percent.
Now, despite often being criticized for his lack of defensive skills, Neymar is way ahead of the other two in terms of tackles. The Brazilian striker has a total of 64 recorded tackles, more than his Argentinian and Portuguese counterparts have combined.
Another aspect of Neymar’s game that was recently criticized by the king of soccer himself was the striker’s participation in the build-up of plays.
"Neymar is a forward, he plays up front. It is a specific role. He does not track back, he does not organize, he is not involved in the build-up," Pele said.
No offense to the best player ever, but fellow Brazilian striker Romario had the quote of the century, in responding to Pele’s criticism of him back in 2005.
“When Pele's quiet, he's a poet,” Romario said.
He might’ve been the undisputed king inside the pitch, but outside the four lines Pele is notorious for being wrong. Goal.com even made a list of Pele’s top wrong predictions.
And his latest claim about Neymar is nothing short of comical.
Clearly the king hasn’t been watching what’s going on in the Camp Nou these days. Since Messi got injured, Neymar has risen his game to a whole new level. In the eight games Barcelona has had to make due without their biggest star, Neymar has scored 10 goals and served six assists. That’s an average of two points per game.
The 23-year-old is not only Barcelona’s main goal-scoring threat, he is also their main playmaker in the absence of Messi.
Neymar leads La Liga in key passes per game with 3.7. The next Barcelona player on the list is Messi with 2.3. The Brazilian is also ranked second in the Champions League with 4.5 key passes per game, only behind Mathieu Valbuena, who has a ridiculous 6.5 key passes per game.
So, unless Pele wants Neymar to drop back and play either as a defensive or central midfielder, it’s hard to make due of his newest criticism.
As for his current form, Neymar is making it even harder for his critics to deny not only how good he might become, but how good he already is.
