Current Brazil national team coach Tite has reacted to claims that his star player Neymar Jr is more of a winger than a central player. According to Tite, any coach who plays Neymar on the wing is a donkey.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar is thought by some to have lost the steam in his football career since he started playing in the central position and not the flank which was a role he had while starring alongside Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi at Barcelona, and this had brought about transfer rumors.
Neymar Jr who has now scored 74 goals for Brazil, plays as the center No.10 with Messi and Kylian Mbappe on the flanks.
With worries about his ball retention brushed aside because his style is all about trying to make things happen, Tite does not doubt that Neymar belongs at the center of any attacking unit that he plays with.
Speaking during a podcast with Sextra Estrela Tite said: “He’s not a problem, he’s a solution. They say Neymar will make more mistakes playing there. But it’s his position that makes him make more mistakes because everything he does in creative terms there will be decisive.”
Tite continued: “If a coach plays Neymar on the wing, I will call him a donkey. It considerably restricts the creative capacity of a player with these qualities. Creativity is not constancy, it is contingency, and it is circumstantial. He will make more mistakes, yes, because his creative ability is where he is required.”
The South American superstar moved from Barcelona to PSG for a record-breaking €222 million (£200 million/$262 million) in the summer of 2017.
After playing at Camp Nou under the noticeable shadow of seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi, he decided to be his own man by joining PSG. It decided to accept the deal with the aim that he would run the show in France.
In his first season at PSG, he scored 28 goals in 30 games, but he has since started to decline. Neymar has made returns of 23, 19, 17, and 13 goals, respectively, during the past four seasons.
However, these efforts have enabled him to score 100 goals for the Ligue 1 winners and win more prestigious awards, but Mbappe has cemented his position as the center of attention at Parc des Princes.
Only three more goals are needed for Neymar to tie famous former frontman Pele’s all-time leading record as he leads Brazil into another attempt at winning the World Cup trophy in Qatar later this year.
📊 Career Goals at age 30 :
— Nightmonkey🃏 (@Nightmonkey828) June 26, 2022
🇧🇷Neymar – 401
🇵🇱Lewandowski – 391
🇺🇾Suarez – 370
🇪🇬Salah – 278
🇩🇪Muller – 223
🇧🇪Hazard – 195
🏴Bale – 194
"Neymar has no output"😂 pic.twitter.com/4bxQ0UhnQA
