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Journalist
Graduated from Journalism School in Paris. Specializing in football, and more particularly on the transfer window. Fan of PSG and Stade Français.
Having passed through PSG between 2017 and 2023, Neymar failed to take on the global dimension that was expected at the Parc des Princes. Gianluigi Buffon, who worked with him for a season in the French capital, believes that the Brazilian striker should have won a lot of Ballons d'Or and had a completely different career…
During the market summer 2017, the PSG did not hesitate to break the bank and make a historic transfer with the arrival of Neymar coming from FC Barcelona for €222 million. A historic blow on the transfer market carried out by the Qataris, especially since the Brazilian striker was almost at the top of world football with the Barça and was also promised the status of Ballon d’Or. But ultimately, victim of repeated injuries as well as a lifestyle that may not have been up to par at PSG, Neymar never lifted the supreme title.
“He should have won 5 Ballons d’Or”
In an interview given to Corriere della Sera, Gianluigi Buffon confided all his admiration for Neymarwhom he rubbed shoulders with during the 2018-2019 season in the locker room of the PSG. And the Italian legend even assures that this is the best opponent he has ever faced in his career: “ I played with three generations, difficult to choose. Zidane, Ronaldo, Messi, CR7, Iniesta… If I had to choose just one? Neymar. For the player and the boy he is, he should have won 5 Ballons d'Or “, explain Buffonwho therefore regrets this enormous failure in the career of Neymar.
Manchester United, a painful memory at PSG
Et Buffon also evokes another disillusionment of his passage to PSG with the scathing elimination against Manchester Unitedin the round of 16 of the Champions League: “ We won 2-0 in Manchester against United. I understood that we were not preparing for the return in the right way. But I didn't say it: after all, I was the last to arrive, perhaps I still had a provincial mentality, they were all champions, Mbappé had just won the World Cup… We immediately conceded a goal from a defensive error, the second was also the fault of an imprecise clearance on my part, we then took the third and were eliminated. We had not prepared well for the return match », confides the former goalkeeper of the Juventus.
