5 reasons why Neymar should win the Ballon d’Or

Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Infantino is coming along riding in his car… Okay, well, this is lame, but the implication here is that Ballon d’Or is on its way and there is quite some fanfare about it, as usual.

Though some don’t really believe in the award due to its individualistic nature, the fact is that this award plays a big role in the players’ minds. There is no player who wouldn’t want to be judged as the best player of the year by the football fraternity.

With the ceremony approaching, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the favourites to win the award – as usual – but there is a certain someone who has displayed himself as a contemporary of the duo: Neymar.

The Brazilian became the most expensive player in the history of the world when he moved to PSG earlier this summer, and has been exceptional ever since joining the team. That said, here are 5 reasons why the former Santos starlet should win the award:

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#5 The stats speak for themselves

Neymar's numbers are simply astonishing

When you look at the Neymar’s number for this season, you will find it difficult to carry on with your life because replacing a jaw is never an easy thing to do. The number of surgeries that you will have to go through and the number of hours you will have to wear a jaw-support mask will be a bit stressful to start with.

In his first 17 games for Paris-Saint Germain, he has scored 15 goals and 9 assists. Indeed, the team has been built in such a way that everything goes through the Brazilian – he is the fulcrum of the attack, the go-to man.

At Barcelona, as Messi’s deputy, he often outshone the Argentine with his own radiance. In the 21 games that he played for the Blaugrana in 2017, he scored 11 times and conjured 10 assists to make sure that he had an influence in almost every game.

#4 Match-winning ability

Neymar has single-handedly won games for his side so often so in the past

The earlier slide was a prelude of this one. Good stats can only be created if the said player is performing well. However, stats can be misleading.

But with Neymar, it is not just about pretty stats coated with honey, but also his influence in games. One has to only go as far as March to witness him desecrate his current club, Paris Saint-Germain, while playing for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League last season.

Barca were virtually out after losing the first-leg 4-0, but a Neymar-inspired Barcelona enforced their way back in with a 6-1 win. It was perhaps the greatest comeback in the knock-out stages of the Champions League – and Neymar was at the heart of it.

His influence wasn’t just limited to that one game as he has been consistently ripping apart defences in the blue colours of Paris. It is almost as though he is making fun of his opposition defenders with his partners in crime, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani, joining the party as well.

#3 Only player almost level with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Neymar is in the same bracket as the two

This is something almost all football fans have been claiming on a regular basis. Who in this world could actually topple the supreme gods that go by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi? If there is anyone who can be kept in the same bracket, it is Neymar.

The former Barcelona star is definitely going to win the Ballon d’Or someday and have an extended run as the best player of his time. You look at Cristiano Ronaldo and, especially, Lionel Messi, you realize that their skill level is somewhere beyond the grasp of many players.

And then you watch Neymar play and realize that he is perhaps the only player who has the talent and ability akin to the gigantic duo. The way he dribbles, passes and moves around in general, it is as though he was sent by God to break the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly.

And he should because I am…

#2 Tired of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi winning all the time

Someone needs to save the world from this duo

Things are always exciting at first. Marriages, toys, everything… they all seem so much fun in the beginning, but once it becomes monotonous and prosaic, it just doesn’t feel good anymore. At first, it was fun to watch the dynamic duo win all the awards and be on the podium almost every year.

However, after 9 years of the same rivalry spewing out, it is time for a change. The debates have been raging for far too long as the Portuguese and Argentine having picked up all the accolades while leaving the others with nothing but bucket-loads of salt.

And it is now time for someone else to win it. Heck, if anything – a chair or pole or a cone – or anyone, apart from Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo win it, I will be as happy as a badger in its mating season.

Maybe not, but the point is that some other player should come in and break the duopoly – and among the current crop of players, with form and ability both considered, Neymar is the only beacon of hope.

#1 Time to look to the future

Will Neymar be the harbinger of change?

This is an extension of the earlier point. See, the thing is, I have nothing against the Portuguese captain and Argentina captain winning the award, but they have won it for so long that things aren't interesting anymore.

It is also not that the duo deserved it in all the years that they won. In 2010, any one of Wesley Sneijder or Andres Iniesta should have won it and in 2013, Ribery was perhaps more deserving than the two. But they weren’t acknowledged, simply because we are slaves to habit.

Habit is something that is very difficult to kill, this is why they say that old habits die hard. And this is as old a habit as it could get. Cristiano Ronaldo has been in terrible form this season and Messi hasn’t won enough this year.

The same could be said about Neymar when it comes to winning team accolades this season, but here’s the thing, right: they are all on the same pedestal with something lacking here and there, so why not we just look to the future and let go of the past?

And giving Neymar the award would be a good start.