If I was to ask you, who would you put third behind Ronaldo and Messi, who would you say? Well, you definitely wouldn’t say Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville or Roy Keane.
In the most recent episode of The Overlap, Gary Neville introduces a new segment called “Unpopular opinions”, in which the first opinion is “No Premier League player in history is better than a prime Neymar”.
This is almost defendable.
But it’s when they go on to disrespect Brazil’s all-time top goalscorer that it becomes a problem, writes Rant Sport‘s Joshua Marshall.
Disrespecting the Brazilian star
After the question was proposed, a flurry of names got mentioned straight away. They mentioned Ronaldo, which is fair.
But to also put Neymar’s name under Mane, Salah and Hazard is outright disrespect
Just admit you never watched him.
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Wayne Rooney goes on to say he’s “never seen Neymar as a top player” and later suggests that prime Mo Salah is better than prime Neymar.
Ian Wright was having none of it, saying: “Salah is not better than Neymar. I’ll have to fight Wayne for that one.”
Can always count on Ian Wright to be reasonable.
Gary Neville and Roy Keane continued disrespecting the Brazilian, with Neville questioning whether he’s not up there after failing to win the World Cup.
This is ironic, as I don’t recall Neville succeeding with England either. At least Neymar won the Olympics.
Rooney sparks the most controversy
Don’t get me wrong, Wayne Rooney is an England legend and one of the Premier League greats. But, honestly, he wishes he could have half the ability Neymar had.
I’m sure if Rooney tried to do one of the skills Neymar has done all his life, his ACL would tear in an instant.
Recently, Neymar has become one of the most, if not the most, disrespected players in football. People often forget he was ranked in the top 10 for the Ballon d’Or six times, including once while playing in Brazil.
He’s below Ronaldo and Messi, sure.
But he’s better than Wayne Rooney.
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