Two Santos rays in the same place. On Tuesday afternoon, strikers Neymar, from PSG, and Rodrygo, from Peixe, participated together in an event organized by the common sponsor they both have, Chinese electronics brand TCL. And during the meeting, Neymar gave advice to the 17-year-old young striker of Santos.
“I am very honored and happy to see Rodrygo trying to follow in my footsteps. I have my idols, many of them still compete and I try to follow my idols, but at the same time, I try to be myself. Here’s a tip. This comparison carries weight. Becoming the new Neymar is like me being the new Robinho. Things have finally exceeded their time, their limits. But I’m happy to be an example,” said Neymar, who then completed his speech with the Santos striker.
“I think this is the third time I’ve met Neymar. Once I was a child, at an event celebrating Santos’ 100th anniversary, and once I went to his Academy to play a game. There, he always advised me to devote myself to training and always have fun, play football with joy, that’s what we do and love.”
From a young age, Rodrygo emerged as another gem of the Peixe youth team. At the age of 11, this striker signed a contract with Nike, younger than his idol Neymar. This athlete also surpassed the PSG star in two other aspects in the black and white shirt: he made his professional debut at the youngest age, 16, while Neymar was 17; Neymar was only 17 years and 40 days old when he scored his first goal at the age of 17 years and 16 days.
In the final edition of Paulistão, Rodrygo was voted to reveal the championship. In the ongoing Libertadores tournament, the Santos striker scored a beautiful goal against Nacional-URU, a goal that went down in Brazilian football history as the youngest athlete to score in the South’s main tournament. America.
Early success did not scare young striker Santos, on the contrary. With a childish voice and a gentle voice, Rodrygo calmly answered all questions asked at the event in a very natural way.
“All my family members and those who work with me are prepared. Of course, everything happens very quickly, but we are always mentally prepared so there is no fear, no bombs,” the player said, while also revealing who his idol is and that before Neymar there were Other Brazilians who followed suit.
“Yes, I always have an idol. Of course, now I have Neymar as my main player, but I always enjoy watching Ronaldinho play, whom I haven’t met much. But I also have my idols outside of Brazil, I think everyone’s idols today are like Cristiano and Messi.”
