No 20-year old in the world of sports has more influence than Neymar.

Will Barca land Neymar?

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When the Brazilian leaves for Europe, his decision will shape the football world. Barcelona must be the football club that Neymar makes history with, or they’ll be the team that he makes history against.

According to the Associated Press (via ESPN), two of the clubs linked to the superstar are La Liga juggernauts Barca and Real Madrid. Each squad already boasts an All-World talent in their own right—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

While Messi is widely known as the world’s best footballer, Ronaldo has his supporters. No matter who you believe is the more talented player, Messi isn’t superior enough to lead his team to a Primera Division title if Neymar pairs with Ronaldo and vice versa. The dynamic duo that Neymar would form with either Messi or Ronaldo wouldn’t just be great—it’d be legendary.

135777718_crop_exact Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

The world will witness just how brilliant Neymar is in the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He’s drawn comparisons to Pele, for crying out loud. In the 2012-2013 action, he’s already recorded 21 goals and five assists for Santos and Brazil.

David Edwards of Goal.com reported that Ronaldinho believes that, besides Messi, Neymar is the best player in the world. Ronaldinho said:

I see Neymar as having everything, he is already one of the best in the world for me. I am encouraging him a lot to next be the best in the world. But of course on the other hand I have my friend Messi, who is destroying everyone. For me the two, right now, are the most talented in the world.

Now, while Barcelona announced the signing of the talented Jordi Alba on their official website, the midfielder isn’t enough to give them the edge on the Whites. What they need is another striker. Real Madrid has three players in Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain that finished among the top-five goal scorers in the league last season.

Outside of Messi, Barca didn’t have a single player score more than 12 goals. But even with Messi being a one-man wrecking crew, they still finished second in the Spanish Liga—just imagine if they had two Messis.

Whoever Neymar lands with will run the La Liga for years to come. Barcelona must make sure they’re that football club.

 

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.