There is plenty of excitement in Madrid as the Santos forward moves closer to a Santiago Bernabeu switch but tales of indiscipline are also causing concern in the Spanish capital
In Spanish, it is common for a football fan or pundit to refer to a special player as a ‘monster’. It means he has potent powers, superhuman strengths, astounding attributes. Lionel Messi, for example, is often called a monster. Un monstruo. Real Madrid target Neymar has also been described in this way, but when he was called a monster by Rene Simoes, the much-travelled Brazilian coach was talking in a much more literal sense.
Behind the scenes, far worse words are likely to have been muttered by the player’s former tactician. Dorival Junior, then his boss at Santos, had been furious with his star player for an on-pitch tantrum late last year. Neymar had won a penalty with some skillful shimmies in the box, but Dorival wanted a more experienced star to take the spot-kick. Neymar shrugged, dropped the ball to the floor, walked away – and sulked. The penalty was duly converted, but Neymar hadn’t even bothered to look. He launched a water bottle into the air and with it, a tirade of abuse towards his coach. He then refused to pass to his team-mates for the rest of the afternoon. All of them tried to talk him around; none succeeded.
“We have created a monster in Brazilian football,” Simoes said. “Someone has to educate him for the good of sports.” Dorival had tried, suspending the brilliant forward from the club’s next game. But when he decided the youngster had still to learn his lesson and needed to sit out another match, things turned sour. Santos’ sponsors were keen for Neymar to be in the team and the club had even sold part of his playing rights to a large supermarket chain. Bad feeling meant bad business; Neymar had to play. So not only did the coach lose his authority, he also lost his job.
