Veloper: Neymar Da Silva

Neymar Da Silva Santos Júnior
Nickname:	Neymar
Date of Birth:	5 Feb 1992 (Age 19)
Place of Birth:	Mogi das Cruzes
Nationality:	Brazil
Height:	174 cm.
Weight:	60 Kg.
Position:	Striker
Squad Number:	11
National Team Page:	Brazil

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), commonly known simply as Neymar Jr., is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a forward for Santos and the Brazilian national football team. He won the 2011FIFA Puskás Award for scoring the best goal of the season in the Brazileirão in a 5–4 loss to Flamengo.

Club career

Born in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Neymar joined Santos in 2003 and eventually made his first-team debut six years later aged 17 on 7 March 2009 in a 2–1 win againstOeste. He made another appearance the following week against Mogi Mirim, during which he scored his first goal for Santos. On 11 April, in the 2009 Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg against Palmeiras, Neymar scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win at Estádio Vila Belmiro.In the final however Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat toCorinthians.

On 15 April 2010, Neymar scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 routing of Guarani in theround of 16 of the Brazilian Cup.Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games,the club were crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals.Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition.Neymar's performances for Santos have drawn comparisons to other Brazilians, including Robinho and Pelé.In June 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid for him from English Premier League team West Ham United. Neymar said he did not think it was time to leave Santos, and that he was entirely focused on his current club,However, Renato Rodrigues insisted that he did not want to stay in Brazil.

On 30 November 2010, Santos sold 5 percent shares on future transfer fees received to an investment group, Terceira Estrela Investimentos S.A. (TEISA), for R$ 3,549,900 (€1.5 million). DIS Group (subsidiary of Sonda Group, a Brazil supermarket chain), investment partner of Santos in recent years, bought 40% sporting rights from Neymar's family in 2009.Neymar scored six goals during Santos run to the 2011 Copa Libertadores Finals, tying him for third top goalscorer, including the clinching goal of Santos' 4-3 aggregate win over Cerro Porteño in the semifinals.In the two-legged final, Santos faced Uruguayan side C.A. Peñarol and drew the first leg 0-0 in Montevideo.At home in the second leg, Neymar opened the scoring in the 46th minute as Santos held on for a 2-1 win and Neymar won Man of the Match honours.The win brought Santos their first Copa Libertadores triumph since 1963, when Brazilian legend Pelé was playing for the club.

In September 2011, Santos president Luis Ribeiro threatened to report Real Madrid to FIFA following reports that they had attempted to sign Neymar to a pre-contract agreement, and denied that such an agreement was in place.On 9 November 2011, Neymar and Santos agreed to a contract extension that would see the player stay with the club until after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The deal reportedly increased Neymar's wages by 50%, to the levels that top European clubs would be paying him.On Wednesday 14 December 2011, Neymar scored the opening goal for Santos as they defeated Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup at the Toyota Stadium inToyota, Japan, but failed to score against Barcelona in the final (18 December 2011), where Santos were defeated 4-0, and ultimately finished second in the competition.He won the 2011 FIFA Puskás Award for scoring the best goal of the season in the Brazileirão in a 5–4 loss to Flamengo.

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 againstJapan, 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 23, 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 for the first time in the Brazil senior team by new head coach Mano Menezes for a friendly match against the United States to be played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. On 10 August 2010 he made his debut with the national team in that game, aged 18 years old, starting the match and wearing 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.On 27 March 2011, he scored twice in a 2–0 win against Scotland at the Emirates Stadium. During the match against Scotland, a banana was thrown onto the pitch after he scored from the penalty spot, which led Neymar to complain about 'constant jeering and an atmosphere of racism', implying that Scottish fans exhibited racism.While Scottish officials explained that Neymar had been booed solely for perceived injury-feigning, a German student who was in the station amongst Brazil supporters said that he threw the banana with no racist intentions. This led to the Scottish Football Association asking the Brazilian Football Confederation for an apology for the accusations made to the Scottish fans.Neymar refused to apologise or retract his words claiming he 'did not accuse any person or any group of supporters'. Neymar took part at the 2011 Copa América in Argentina, where he scored two goals in the first round game againstEcuador.
Neymar Pictures