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Can Neymar still play for FC Barcelona?
A thread.
A thread.
Since Neymar's departure from the Camp nou, it’s been clear that he’s had a change in position. Since his debut for the Parisian club he started off as a Left wing and has slowly moved into the #10 role. This is where the problems begin.
At first glance, one would think that the Brazilian would fit perfectly at the club because he’s world class and is proven to have succeeded here before, but this is where the misconceptions comes into play.
It’s true that since he’s left Barça no one has been able to fill his boots and some would think that if anyone can, he surely can. But things have changed since the glorious MSN era, we have appointed a Cruyffista as a coach and he is trying to revive our style.
What I mean about "our style" is the basic Barcelona, positional play, possession football and 5 seconds rule, so on and so forth. But the position that Neymar would play in would not benefit his new playing style at all and would probably leave the player unhappy.
Here is Michael Carrick explaining briefly what our wingers are supposed to do.
The problem lies around the occupation of spaces and positioning. The former Santos wonderkid is better than both Pedro and Villa, but would he have been able to execute the task the Spanish duo was given?
Working selflessly off the ball, staying near the touchline, making diagonal runs, waiting and waiting, and not being in continuous contact with the ball, to then just dribble when receiving a pass?
Neymar definitely has the intelligence to adapt to such function, but would he have had the work rate and capacity to sacrifice himself for the collective's good? That's the question.
The PSG forward has lately been evolving into a number 10 role, with Tuchel modifying his tactics to a 4–2–2–2. With this, Ney has become more complete, but also more central.
Having both Neymar and false 9 Messi through the centre could have led to a lot of possessional dominance, but a lack of width. Similar to what happened when Cesc joined.
So, for Neymar too come back to the Camp Nou and succeed, he would have to lose his big ego and play for the team if he wants to able to play alongside Leo again.
Picture credit @thesinglepivot
