Neymar: Was he a success or failure at PSG?

There are few players who divide opinion more than Neymar. Love him or hate him, he is pure box office.

Whether it be the controversy regarding his mysterious injuries around the time of his sister's birthday, his unsportsmanlike conduct on the pitch or his frequent altercations with players and supporters, Neymar is always centre of attention - and that's just the way he likes it.

The Brazilian's £77.6m move from Paris Saint-Germain to Al Hilal has been the subject of great debate on the battlefields of social media, and has raised an interesting question: was Neymar's time at PSG a failure or a success?

On-field contributions

Regardless of what you may think of the mercurial superstar, nobody has ever doubted Neymar's ability on the pitch.

While the rainbow flicks and flip-flaps may be what catch the eye, Neymar's agility, precision and technical quality are what make him such an astonishing footballer at his very best. The winger managed 118 goals and 77 assists during his time in the French capital, a truly astounding number even if you take into account some relative stat-padding against lesser Ligue 1 sides.

In the Champions League, he had a combined 39 goals and assists in 41 matches, the kind of statistical output that has only been normalised in the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo era. At his best, he has been simply unplayable.

However, Neymar is famed for picking and choosing his moments. His inconsistency, and often lack of commitment, has stopped him reaching the same heights as Messi and Ronaldo, and there is an element to which Neymar's glittering career still feels somewhat like a waste of talent.

Silverware

Neymar won a lot of silverware in France, but not the one trophy that PSG brought him in to win.

Despite having won Ligue 1 five times and the Coupe de France three times, the Champions League eluded the 31-year-old. PSG splashed £190m on Neymar for that one goal, to make them the best team in Europe, and, no matter your opinion on him, he failed to do that.

Of course, he is not alone - both Kylian Mbappe and Messi have been unable to inspire the Parisian side to European glory - but his questionable attitude and inability to provide in the big games under the floodlights have been a significant part of the problem.

Ultimately, Neymar and PSG failed one another in the Champions League, and no amount of domestic titles can change that.

Injuries

Since arriving at PSG, Neymar missed approximately 741 days through injury - just over two years. Within this spell there have been some significant lay-offs, including several periods in which the Brazil international has missed months at a time with fitness issues.

This undoubtedly hampered his ability to make a greater contribution to PSG, but some of his time spent in the injury room has been somewhat controversial.

Neymar normally found himself injured or suspended around early March, which conveniently coincides with his sister's birthday. The attacker went missing for PSG in almost every season around this time, something which simply cannot be a coincidence, and underlines his lack of professionalism.

Off-field controversies

There has been plenty of drama surrounding Neymar off the pitch, something which has understandably soured public perception of the winger.

In 2019, Neymar appeared to punch a supporter who criticised him after his side's cup final defeat to Rennes, something which saw him receive a three-game ban. Several days earlier, Neymar had received the same ban for criticising UEFA officials after PSG conceded a late penalty to Manchester United.

Several months later, Neymar was stripped of the Brazil captaincy for a series of disciplinary issues including those that saw him get banned for PSG.

The forward has also regularly clashed with his own teammates during his time at PSG. Neymar and Julian Draxler had to be separated in the dressing room after an altercation, while there is also well-documented aggro between the forward and Mbappe after Neymar took a penalty off the French striker in a match against Montpellier in 2022.

All in all, Neymar doesn't appear to be the easiest guy to get along with.

Verdict

Overall, Neymar's time at PSG has to be considered a failure. While the Brazilian has frequently shown his quality on the field, he has often gone missing in key moments, and has never shown the commitment and attitude required to compete with Messi and Ronaldo.

The fact is that even in such a start-studded team, with everything he could ever need at his disposal, Neymar was unable to take PSG to Champions League glory, with the Parisians often finding new and ingenious ways of shooting themselves in the foot on the big stage.

Neymar's big-money move to PSG was an incredibly expensive experiement, and it didn't quite work.

On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth, Graeme Bailey and Sean Walsh to discuss the ever-changing Moises Caicedo saga, Harry Kane's move to Bayern Munich and more!

If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!