Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes), commonly known simply as Neymar, is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays as a striker for Santos and the Brazilian national football team. Still a teenager, he is largely untested outside Brazil, but has gathered interest from a number of leading European clubs.
International career
Following Neymar's performances for Brazil's U-17 team at the 2009 U-17 World Cup in which he scored a goal in the opening match against Japan former Brazilian football players Pelé and Romário reportedly urged coach Dunga to take Neymar to the 2010 World Cup. Although the widespread opinion that Neymar deserved a place in Dunga's squad went as far as a 14,000 signature petition, and despite the huge pressure on Dunga to pick Neymar, he was omitted from both the squad of and the stand-by list. Although Dunga described Neymar as "extremely talented", he claimed that he had not been tested sufficiently on the international level to earn a World Cup spot and he had failed to impress enough while on international duty.
On 26 July 2010, Neymar was selected in the squad for the Brazil team by new head coach Mano Menezes for a friendly match against the USA on 10 August 2010.
He started the game and wore the number 11 jersey. He scored on his debut after 28 minutes, a header coming from an André Santos cross in a 2–0 win for Brazil. Neymar celebrates a goal for Brazil against Scotland in March 2011 with Andre Santos and Ramires.
"Five European clubs have offered to meet this clause. I can't say which ones because that's an agreement between Santos and the clubs, but they're the most important European ones. They asked to speak to the player and we've given them permission." Whoever lands Neymar will procure the services of an exceptional footballer -- as well as the responsibility of nurturing that talent into a genuine world star.
