Danny Murphy has claimed that “super talent” Neymar has it in him to ‘disappear’ for a spell of games when he “doesn’t quite fancy it”.
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar is currently in Qatar with Brazil but is sidelined after sustaining an ankle injury against Serbia on matchday one.
Many fancy Brazil to win the World Cup and they secured a spot in the last 16 with a game to spare.
They certainly looked worse off without the 30-year-old in their second match against Switzerland, but came through thanks to a late winner from an unlikely hero, Casemiro.
Neymar does strike you as the sort of player you either love or hate.
While he is an astonishing footballer, he has often been condemned for diving and his overall playacting.
And former Liverpool midfielder Murphy is not sure if Neymar has fulfilled his huge potential and believes the PSG forward can go from “unplayable” to a ghost like it’s nothing.
“It depends how you interpret greats, I mean yes he’s a special talent, really special,” Murphy told talkSPORT.
“Has he fulfilled his potential? At Barcelona for a while he was because he was winning everything and he was contributing to that, part of one of the best front threes ever apparently.
“He’s a super talent, somebody I really enjoy watching but if he comes back [to the World Cup] and they win it and he contributes then all of a sudden he goes up another notch.
“In my lifetime he’s been one of the greats, in my era he could be for two or three games on a level and just look unplayable, then for two or three games he drops, he disappears for a bit, he doesn’t quite fancy it.”
Neymar has struggled with injuries for several years now and his 22 Ligue 1 appearances last term were the most he has made in a league campaign since moving to Paris,
This is a horrible record for a player who cost a world-record €222million when he joined from FC Barcelona in August 2017.
He has played 14 out of a possible 15 so far this season under Christophe Galtier, however, and looks set to break his record from 2021-22.
The seasons prior, Neymar played 18 times, 15 times, 17 times, and 20 times in the French top flight.
His form this campaign has been tremendous, having scored 15 and assisting 12, and Brazil will be hoping he is available for their last-16 clash against South Korea.
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