by Moore Vang, age 14
Neymar Jr. is one of the most famous athletes in the world and one of the greatest soccer players in Brazilian history. He is famously known for playing as a forward for Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil. Although when he first started playing, he mainly played as a winger. Neymar is also known for his quick agility, dribbling, and shooting accuracy. His skills on the field have even been compared to some of the greatest soccer and Brazilian players of all time such as Pele and Ronaldinho, Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior, famously known as Neymar Jr. was born in
Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil on February 5, 1992. He began playing soccer at a young age in the streets of Brazil where he was in a youth soccer team called Sao Vicente. He was mentored by his dad, Neymar Santos Sr., who was a professional soccer player at the time. His dad, along with playing in the streets, was a huge influence on Neymar’s professional soccer career later on.
During his youth, he began to develop many of his own techniques that mixed speed, dribbling, and shooting while playing with the youth club Portuguesa Santista. His talent quickly caught the attention of Brazilian club Santos. He began to play for Santos youth ranks in 2003 and was seen as the next big star in world soccer. Neymar would go on to receive a contract from Santos which paid him $2,000 a month at the age of 15. By the age of 16, Santos signed him to a bigger contract that was long term which gave him $23,000 a month before becoming pro. When he turned 17, he was earning more than the average professional soccer player in South America and was promoted to his first team where he would make his professional debut with Santos on March 7, 2009. In that match, Santos won 2-1 against the team Oeste. This would officially begin one of the greatest careers in Brazilian soccer since the likes of Pele and Ronaldinho years prior. [Read More]
