Lille: Former Brazil and Barcelona defender Edmilson played down the hype surrounding his compatriot Neymar taking the baton from the Ronaldo-Messi axis as the world’s best. The World Cup winner, instead, wants a “complete” season from the Paris Saint-Germain forward, who made a record move to the French capital in 2017 from Barcelona.
“Neymar is really talented and has lot of capacities but unfortunately he was injured the last two seasons for the most important games,” Edmilson said, in an interaction with the media arranged by French Ligue 1. “However, this kind of player always comes back stronger than before.”
Neymar has been the star attraction of the league since his £200 million switch to PSG. While he has been plundering the goals and remains the premier shirt-seller, the French giants’ wait for the elusive Champions League medal continues. An injured Neymar was helpless as he watched his team alarmingly surrender a 2-0 first leg lead in the Champions League round of 16 against Manchester United in the Champions League.
Neymar has been widely tipped by football connoisseurs as the heir to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – each of whom have five Ballon d’Ors to their name – to sweep the individual prizes for the season.
But Edmilson, an integral part of the Brazil backline that clinched the 2002 World Cup, wants Neymar to come into his own during the latter rounds of the Champions League.
“Before thinking about Ballon d’Or, Neymar has to come back, play, score and put up good performances,” the 42-year-old said.
“If he’s doing that, he can be among the best players of the world. Questions linking Neymar and the Ballon d’or do not help him, PSG or Brazil. The most important is that Neymar does a complete season with PSG.”
While Neymar has bulldozed his way to the big league over the past few seasons, Edmilson says that Messi and Ronaldo are still light years away. “He [Neymar] can do great things but all what Messi and Ronaldo are doing for more than 10 years.....it is unbelievable. You can’t do this. Make this sort of a comparison, it is not logical.”
Enough to showcase in Ligue 1
The French League, though, while steadily garnering interest, is some way off the Premier League and the Spanish La Liga, who continue to be India’s go-to domains in European football. It’s not uncommon to find a kid having a kick about with his mates in a Manchester United or Barcelona jersey.
How does French football bridge this gap? Edmilson thinks the answer to that is by producing strong academy prospects, even if that means that the big clubs prize them away for hefty sums. He said. “It is tough [for the French league to compete with the rest]. Today there are a lot of negotiation in football.
“Teams like Lyon, Lille, Marseille have a lot of quality players so it is normal that teams like the Manchester clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid snap up these players.
“We have to show the good things that what we have in France. We have good players playing here, lot of quality players. France is a big football country which is producing and selling big talents to England, Germany etc. There are fantastic academies where young players are trained to play in Europe. Our job is to show that Ligue 1 with its big players can be a part of a spectacular league.”
Edmilson cited the example of French star Kylian Mbappe, another sought-after player. At 20, the former Monaco forward has the world at his feet and played a central role in France’s World Cup triumph last year in Russia.
“Look at Mbappe [who has only played in France],” Edmilson argued.
“He is world champion....young, fast and playing at a very good level by scoring lot of goals. Thanks to the quality of the players such as Neymar, [Edinson] Cavani, [Nabil] Fekir, Memphis [Depay], Ligue 1 can now dream about having good days in the future, which was not always the case before.”
One team domination
However, Ligue 1 misses the spicy rivalries of the Premier League or La Liga. The league has changed hands in England every year since 2009. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, though, have the chance to buck that trend by the end of this season. France, sadly, is seen as a one-way street with PSG ruling the roost and the rest of the clubs playing catch-up.
There are odd examples like Leanardo Jardim’s thrilling Monaco side of 2016-’17, which also featured Mbappe. While PSG are seen as the behemoths of this decade, Olympique Lyonnais in the 2000s, were out of sight, winning seven championships in a row. Edmilson earned his breakthrough at Lyon, before moving to Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona.
Is this healthy for the league? Edmilson says it’s a difficult question to answer. “Lyon when they were champions for seven years in a row, [President] Jean Michel Aulas did great job of building a strong squad from 2000 to 2007.
“He recruited and sold intelligently to allow the club to stay on the top and be well organized. PSG then arrived with their money and staff took the best players, which is the difference. Today, it is impossible for a club like Lyon to be compared with Paris Saint-Germain.”
In the gold and green, Neymar – who is only 26 – may well go on to smash the all-time goalscoring records of Luis Ronaldo and the legendary Pele.
Edmilson, like much of the Brazilian public, has pinned his hopes on the wizard from Sau Paulo to take Brazil to their sixth triumph. “Like the whole of Brazil, I am waiting.
“It has been nearly 20 years since our last World Cup win. Indeed, we were in the final in 1994, 1998 and 2002 – three finals with two wins and a defeat.
“But it is the dream for every Brazilian: when you go to the World Cup, you have to think about winning the trophy, it is an obligation, a duty.”
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