Former Barcelona superstar backs Real Madrid forward to win the Ballon d’Or | OneFootball

In one way or another, the Brazilian star Neymar Junior can be argued to have had a significant impact on Real Madrid, despite never having played for the Merengues in his career.

After his explosion in Brazil with Santos, Neymar was one of the most sought-after players in the world, with several big clubs in Europe trying to incorporate him into their squads.

One of the most prominent of these clubs was Real Madrid, as Florentino Perez was driven to get him in his own team as the next Galactico signing. However, the Brazilian ended up joining one the biggest rivals of the Merengues, FC Barcelona, in the summer of 2013, and remained associated with the Blaugranes till 2017 when he signed for PSG.

This was a bitter pill for Perez to swallow, and this failure to land the Brazilian superstar had a lot of implications for the transfer strategy of Real Madrid in the years to come.

Obsessed about not missing out on the next big stars emerging out of the South American country, the Merengues were quick to pay some very high transfer fees to incorporate players like Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes in the ensuing years, and this policy continued to this date as was clear from the arrival of Endrick in the last summer transfer window.

Thus, one can argue that not being able to land Neymar still benefitted Real Madrid, as they got another Brazilian star in their ranks, Vinicius Junior, who is one of the favourites to win the next Ballon d’Or.

In fact, as Mundo Deportivo has reported, the former Barcelona forward backed his compatriot and the Real Madrid winger to win the biggest individual prize in football this year:

Neymar also described Vinicius as a “great friend” and “an idol for all of us” in this statement. Such words from a player as big as Neymar will definitely encourage Vinicius to keep on performing at his best, and hopefully, this upcoming Ballon d’Or will only be the first of many to come.