Neymar’s return to boyhood club Santos on a six-month loan deal from Al-Hilal has given the football world pause for thought on the career he’s carved in the thirteen years since he left the club for Barcelona, with the world at his feet, in 2013.

Two La Liga titles and Champions League success in the Blaugrana before a record-breaking move to Paris Saint-Germain, as well as three World Cups as the leading man for Brazil, paint a broad outline of success; instead his story is largely considered one of derailment, and defined by an unfulfilled desire to be the best player in the world.

‘Every time we talk about Neymar, it has to go next to a sigh – ‘ohh, Neymar’ – because he could have been everything. Nobody saw the Neymar that would eventually fall out of love with the game, coming’, veteran Spanish football journalist Guillem Balagué told Box2Box.

‘There were clues from the beginning that perhaps he was being pushed towards a stage which he wasn’t fully comfortable with, or at least that didn’t feel natural.

‘What was being built around him was an industry, a factory of dreams, led by his dad. In the Neymar documentary you can see there’s tension with his dad, who wanted to push him beyond his limits. He broke, because when he was built to dominate the game and it didn’t happen, there was going to be frustration.’

2017’s move from Barcelona to PSG for a then-record transfer fee of €222 million is widely critiqued as the inflection point at which his story began to slide. His frontline partnership with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez has been legendary, but Ballagué believes the desire to step out of Messi’s shadow drove his exit.

‘That was the turning point of his career, deciding to go somewhere that didn’t have the right context; all the money in the world, yes, and he became the most expensive player in the world.

‘A mixture of that, not having a club that built the perfect side for him, and the bad look of injuries at the wrong time, meant he couldn’t reach the heights and ultimately, the pressure of trying to be No.1 became an issue of mental health, and eventually he just didn’t enjoy football, basically.

‘Every manager that’s had him said he’s like a very loving little kid, a good person, but one or two will tell you the expectations were too much for him, and he told them that. To Unai Emery at PSG, he said: ‘do you see the amount of people around me, that depend on me?’ That was important to him, not to let him down.’

Neymar’s Brazil legacy remains similarly contentious, having been anointed heir to the throne of a rich line of football kings. 79 international goals sees him lead all comers for the Selecao – Pelé, Ronaldo et.al – and he was the key man at their 2013 Confederations Cup and 2016 Olympic Games titles.

Glaring is the absence of World Cup or Copa América titles. 2014’s home World Cup ended in agony in the quarter-final against Colombia, the 22-year old was stretchered off with a fractured vertebrae; Brazil lifted the 2019 Copa following his pre-tournament withdrawal through injury.

Brazil have welcomed a new generation of stars since Neymar’s last international appearance in October 2023, but the 33-year old has recently declared a desire to play on the world stage a final time in 2026.

‘For Neymar to become again the superstar of Brazil and take them to a World Cup title, for instance, it requires what Messi had with Argentina: that universal agreement that he’s the leader, and that everybody works around him and his lack of pace, physicality.

‘The No.1 player for Brazil is now probably Raphina, and if he’s the leader he’ll try and impose a certain way of playing that does not suit Neymar, lots of pace, high tempo.

‘Brazil is not going to stop that progression, which includes Rodrigo and Viniscius Jr as well, to say ‘hey, forget all that, let’s all go the Neymar way.’ I honestly think his time has passed. Going to Santos is a way to recover his love for football, and I hope he does.’