How will Neymar‘s time in Paris be remembered? Will it be the highs or the lows? The highs seem obvious enough: 12 domestic trophies and genuine dominance within the borders of France.
But after that… losing the Champions League final? Coming third in the Ballon d’Or twice? An injury-time bicycle-kick winner against Strasbourg in 2019?
Looking at the career of a player capable of conjuring moments of brilliant aesthetic beauty and all you can really see are moments. His obvious talent, often a defence to his shortcomings – defensive disinterest, an ego the size of the Eiffel Tower – is now seen as a rod to beat him with: how can someone so gifted have achieved so little?
Five-and-a-half years after joining, how will Neymar’s Paris Saint-Germain spell be perceived?
The French giants have enjoyed massive domestic dominance during his tenure at the club
And so it was that after Paris Saint-Germain’s limp 1-0 loss against Rennes, their second defeat in January, with chasing Lens just three points behind in the Ligue 1 table, he was labelled ‘the biggest flop in football history’ by the French media.
Not just the biggest PSG flop or the biggest football flop right now, but the biggest in the history of the sport. Ever.
The press in France are notoriously scathing with their criticisms (see L’Equipe’s player ratings for a flavour) but that scorn is reflective of the mood in Paris darkening towards a player who has often flattered to deceive, despite still being the most expensive footballer of all time after his £198million move from Barcelona in 2017.
So below, Sportsmail assesses whether he really is the ‘biggest flop in football history’.
But there have been plenty of lows too – and below, Sportsmail assesses whether Neymar is the ‘biggest flop in football history’ after that criticism was aimed at him by the French press
Arriving from Barcelona
Joining Spanish giants Barcelona as a raw, skinny 21-year-old, he quickly became a key part of the club’s forward line, as part of the fearsome ‘MSN’ front three alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
In his second season in 2014-15, he scored in stoppage time as the Catalan side won the Champions League, the 39th and final goal in a stellar campaign.
The following two seasons, partially hit by injuries, saw a reduced output, with his final campaign in red-and-blue bringing 20 goals in all competitions – almost half his tally from two years earlier.
The order of the MSN abbreviation also…