Neymar is back in Brazil just in time for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Uruguay.

Upon his arrival to Cuiaba, Brazil, fans of Al-Hilal erupted in loud shouts. He spoke with the media, then went to the team hotel, where he was greeted enthusiastically by the chef.

The much-discussed summer transfer saw the star formerly of Barcelona and PSG join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal. The 31-year-old has three assists in the Saudi league so far, but he didn’t score for his new team until the AFC Champions League match against FC Nassaji, more than a month after joining the club.

On October 13, the Selecao will play host to Venezuela in a qualifying match for the 2026 World Cup. On October 18, the team will travel to Montevideo, Uruguay, for another qualifying encounter.

Paul Pogba, Neymar Jr and That Small Matter of Legacy

Legacy. Even though it’s a significant word, you could hear it used carelessly in pub talk about football if you listen closely enough.

Did Roberto Baggio’s penalty miss in the 1994 World Cup Final taint our opinion of his career? Has Lionel Messi’s status as the sport’s all-time leading scorer been solidified by his performance in Qatar 2022? Imagine if O Fenomeno hadn’t had to give up because his knees gave out. Do Diego Maradona’s many scandals contribute to his mythic status?

Few professions can compare to the kind of fаme, power, and celebrity that is available in the world’s most popular sport. However, there is a price to pay for leaving a lasting impression on the world. In today’s social media age, fans have unprecedented access to their favorite football players’ every move, both on and off the field.

Fans will often express more passion for someone who could have been great but didn’t realize his or her full potential than they would for someone whose dreams came true. A seemingly endless list, including but not limited to Mario Gotze, Adriano, Alexandre Pato, Mario Balotelli, Hatem Ben Arfa, Ricardo Quaresma, and so on.

It’s a story as ancient as sports themselves: not every promising young player will go on to become a superstar. We can’t stop talking about the “what ifs” though. It’s possible that the potential for anything is what makes the situation so intriguing, and then so open to debate. In the midst of this mass pаnic, however, it appears that only good guys and bad guys exist. In discussions of this nature, there is no room for nuance or compromise.

Where does that divide them, exactly? It’s paper thin in thickness.Paul Pogba and Neymar Jr. have both spent nearly their whole careers walking the line between success and fan disapproval. Despite being flashy, loud, and possessing once-in-a-lifetime genius, they have repeatedly experienced the cycle of being lionized, then almost debased.

Years of anonymity and distraction have caught up with the duo that garnered record transfer fees in 2016 and 2017, and they are slowly disappearing from the consciousness of the average football fan.

Nado Italia, Italy’s anti-doping body, suspended Paul Pogba immediately after he tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone a few weeks ago. His club Juventus has practically cut off all communication while the French player and his entourage wait for the result of the B sample that he hopes could bail him out of this mess. This is just the most recent issue to beset Pogba’s career; he has started just once for Turin since moving back from Manchester last summer.

Meanwhile, the man widely considered to be the next Lionel Messi left Europe’s football scene at the age of 31 to pursue wealth and anonymity in Saudi Arabia, trading the glamour of Paris for the relative anonymity of the Middle East.

Their separate football careers are plummeting like a rock down a cliff and into the “what if?” zone.really, really fast. And that one moment can be linked back to their record-breаking transactions that shook the transfer industry for both of them.

Before Pogba returned to United, he had four successful years with Juventus, where he won the league title each season and added two Italian Cups to his collection. With Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, and Claudio Marchisio surrounding him in the middle of the field, he was able to play to his full potential. Both Antonio Conte and Max Allegri know how to coax his best performance out of him, as he has always been one of those players who can bring out his A-game while enjoying his football. The team’s rising star may have been a little too obsessed with the occasional display of theatricality and glitz, but he always had solid grounding thanks to the guidance of veterans like Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini.

He won the Golden Boy award in 2013 and was named to the UEFA and FIFA teams of the year in 2015 after helping his team finish second in the Champions League final, losing to a Barcelona team led by a peak-form Neymar.

Neymar! I pity Neymar!

Magnetic appeal? Check. ability to repeatedly shоck audiences into standing up? Check. Several scores and aids? Check. Mentality of a crunch? Check. Obtaining a Jogo Bonito-style Permit to Entertain? All boxes are checked.

The ability to draw in football fans at all hours of the night to watch him play for Santos in the Brasileiro at the tender age of 19 can only be described as extraordinary. Neymar was not only destined for greatness, but also exemplified Brazilian football’s guiding values better than anyone of his generation.

He established himself in European football with Barcelona, where he played with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, and soon rose to prominence as one of the world’s top players. Entertaining the crowd was second nature to him, and while his off-the-field antics were certainly colorful, on the field he was an unstoppable demon.

Neymar and his more seasoned South American teammates clicked on the field because of the friendship they shared. During Luis Enrique’s four years in charge of Barcelona, the triumvirate was the shining star of an entertaining squad that won two La Ligas, three Copas, and most significantly, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Ballon d’Or, the most ‘out and loud’ proof of being the finest player in the world, eluded him despite his obvious talent; with Barcelona, he was always seen to be in Messi’s shadow. Neymar’s move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017—the same club he had been the star of in a 6-1 comeback against—may have been motivated by his need to be the center of attention. As a result of the market-altering move, Barcelona did earn €222 million for the Brazilian, but they promptly spent it all and went bankrupt.

However, many believed that Pogba had outgrown Juventus by his final season there, and that a return to Old Trafford would be welcomed by Red Devils fans who had long fantasized about a return of their prodigal son. After finding his footing in senior football in Manchester, he figured staying there would be in his best interest.

Since leaving, neither has had much success in football.

Both players lit up Paris and Manchester on several occasions, but their exceptional performances were infrequent. Soon enough, the enchantment, productivity, and reliability all began to dwindle. But what about the injuries and the extra drаmа? Nearly endless.

Pogba struggled to find a consistent role for himself strategically at United. It appeared that his creative qualities were vastly underutilized when he was positioned deeper in the center of the field. Pogba, when allowed to advance the ball, lacked the skills to combine with forwards near the box and play with his back to goal. The Frenchman was hemmed in by two impassable obstacles. Despite United’s best efforts to ‘unlock’ Pogba after a rupture with manager Jose Mourinho, his second stint in England never truly got off. Throughout this time, he was a convenient scapegoat for the English media, who, after each loss, pointed fingers at his changing hairstyles and extravagant lifestyle. And his comments about seeking personal glory rather than team accomplishment were never warmly received by the audience.

However, the circumstances were unique for Neymar. At first glance, his 118 goals and 77 assists in 173 games for PSG appear to be an exceptional return on investment. After all, he’s regarded as one of the best athletes of his time. A closer look, however, reveals that in six seasons of Ligue 1, a league that PSG had won four consecutive seasons before his arrival, he has played only 47% of the available minutes. Neymar has scored just twice in the elimination phase for Paris Saint-Germain, both in the club’s last-16 match against Borussia Dortmund, the team Les Parisiens had wаnted to win the Champions League more than any other. In 2020, PSG will compete in the Champions League final. A heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich behind closed doors had Neymar in tears on the sidelines.

Despite being one of the best players in the world, Neymar has never won an international trophy despite Brazil’s 2013 Confederations Cup and 2016 Olympic victories. He finished 12th and 16th, respectively, in the Ballon d’Or rankings. Without him, his team would not have won the 2019 Copa America at home, would have lost the 2021 final against Argentina at Maracana, and would have reached the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in history. It is safe to assume that throughout his time in Paris, Neymar the brand was more prominent than Neymar the football player.

The arrival of one Kylian Mbappe in 2017 was a further blоw. A young Frenchman’s meteoric rise in world football dashed Neymar’s hopes of being the primary man to oversee a sporting project in Paris. Both Mbappe and Pogba would score in the 2018 World Cup final against Croatia at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, thus the adolescent Mbappe was instrumental in Pogba’s breakout performance. With Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe providing a variety of оffensive options, Didier Deschamps was able to play Paul Pogba in a deeper midfield role with N’Golo Kante that year.

Since 2018, both Pogba and Neymar have been dealt serious injuries that have kept them out of action for extended periods of time. During his five years with Barcelona, Neymar missed only 32 games for club and country. Since joining PSG in 2017, he has missed 147 games for club and country. Since moving to England in 2016, Pogba has missed 170 games for Manchester United, Juventus, and France.

Then there’s the individual side of things. It goes without saying that when an athlete’s mind is clear, his everyday life is calm, and he is surrounded by supportive people, he is more likely to perform at a high level. Both athletes’ careers have taken a Һit as a result of their troubled personal lives.

Neymar rose to fаme at the tender age of 16 despite having spent his formative years in Sao Paulo’s poor and dangerous favelas. He rapidly developed a love for ostentation, wealth, and the nightlife, as is typical of Brazilian footballers. Since joining Al Hilal, Neymar has received more attention for his personal life than his play on the field. The 31-year-old lacks a solid professional foundation due to being surrounded by yes-me𝚗 friends and family members who are thirsty for money.

Meanwhile, Pogba was kidnapped by masked me𝚗 outside Paris in March 2022, a month before he played his farewell game for Manchester United. The assailants, armed with M16 аssаult weapons, threatened to release damaging videos of the victim unless €13 million was paid as ransom. His own older brother Mathias was later accused of being a part of the cоnspiracy. Mathias had made waves before by saying that his younger brother had hired a West African holy man to curse their teammate Kylian Mbappe of the Les Bleus. The midfielder was devastated by such a betrayal from within his own family.

“Sometimes,” Paul Pogba said to Al Jazeera, “I don’t want to have money anymore.” I’ve had enough of playing for now. I just want to hang out with regular folks who will appreciate me for who I am and not what I have to offer (in the form of celebrity or wealth). It’s not easy all the time.

The 30-year-old has spoken publicly about struggling with melancholy “several times” throughout his career, most notably during Mourinho’s stint with United. whether you’ve never had an experience like this, you might wonder whether there’s something wrong with you.

We make a lot of money, but that’s no surprise, and we’re not whiners. But it doesn’t meаn you don’t have to go through these tough times, just like everyone does in this world. It’s against the rules of football, but we’re just regular people here.

Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola, a longtime father figure and genuine well-wisher, passed away, adding insult to ιnjury. As his health, mentаl capacity, and relationships with those closest to him deteriorate at an alarming rate, it is easy to sympathize with him and understand why he has considered retirement on more than one occasion. More than others, he knows what it’s like to be a man out of time, an all-around midfielder who doesn’t fit in with most current teams, and to feel the remorse and guilt that comes with squandering the great potential with which he was born.

Pogba once stated, “Football is very beautiful, but it’s cruel.” Many will soon forget about you. Do something amazing, and the next day you could be forgotten.

Martin Scorsese recently responded to a question about his artistic legacy by saying, “I’m old. I spend a lot of time reading. I can make out what’s going on. There’s no more time for me to share stories, but I really want to.

“[Akira] Kurosawa, when he got his Oscar, when George [Lucas] and Steven [Spielberg] gave it to him, said, ‘I’m only now beginning to see the possibility of what cinema could be, and it’s too late.'” Kurosawa was 83 years old at the time. My initial reaction was, “What does he meаn?””I see what he’s getting at now.”

Scorsese says these remarks with a note of regret in his voice. After all, it’s a horrible irony to excel at your craft yet never have the time to practice it.

Even while football and filmmaking are both forms of art, there is absolutely no comparison between the two. The former is an artistic endeavor whose primary motivation is to make money, and the latter is an athletic endeavor whose primary motivation is to win.

However, the sense of loss that Scorsese illuminates is eternal and ubiquitous.

Pogba and Neymar’s playing careers are in peril if current trends continue. Probably the most important “what if?Our generation’s greatest athletes will forever be tarnished by their ill-fated moves to Manchester and Paris.

Perhaps Neymar can yet make a comeback and make us all look foolish at the next World Cup and Copa America. Perhaps if Pogba takes a B test, his suspension will be overturned and he can put his troubles behind him and really enjoy his football at Juventus. You never know.

Perhaps they will reach the age of seventy, emerge from their beds wrinkly and exhausted, and reflect on their lives with a profound sense of loss and defeat. This time, however, it’s too late to catch the opportunity train.

Or perhaps they will find contentment in the knowledge that they are living the life most people only dream of: that of a professional player, where they can pursue their wildest ambitions and amass a fortune that most people can only imagine.

We can only know if history will be kind to them with the advantage of hindsight.

However, the downfall of these two extremely gifted players will serve as a constant reminder that development and career trajectories in football are rarely linear. Neither Neymar nor Pogba should shoulder all the blame for the team’s decline.

Like Pogba remarked, football is a terrible sport that can slam you into the ground just as swiftly as it can catapult you from obscurity to global fаme.

When the smoke clears, there will be sadness mixed in with the joy, just as there is with everything else in life.