Barcelona's Neymar Pleads with Fans to Stop Phoning Him in Early Hours

Being a professional footballer at the elite level comes with all your usual celebrity privileges: money, fame and international recognition.

However, Neymar is quickly learning some of the less enviable aspects of his superstar status at Barcelona and has had to plead with his own fans to stop calling him in the early hours, as well as intruding upon the lives of his family and friends.

His most avid fans, dubbed "Neymarzetes," have insisted on contacting the flash forward in recent months, forcing Neymar to change his number at least once every fortnight.

Neymar published an open letter on his Instagram—which has since been translated into English—the Daily Mail's Pete Jenson reports:

In the letter, Neymar pleads:

"

I implore with all my heart that everyone who likes me and the Neymarzetes that have been with me from the start, that if they know of anyone who does not know where to draw the line, that they advise them, for the love of God, to change their behaviour. I don’t know what else to do.

"

Of course, the real irony in this plot is that those calling their beloved Neymar could actually be affecting their idol's form for the worse, and are thus direct influences in any decline.

So, it's only natural for one to question whether all of those calling are indeed Neymarzetes, or rather opposition infiltrators looking to work behind enemy lines.

Rumours of fans setting off fire alarms in the hotels of opposing clubs are commonplace, but for a person to directly contact a player would be taking the extremes to another level, if true.

In any case, Neymar's form wouldn't appear to be suffering too much, given that he's failed to grab an assist in just one of his last eight La Liga games, scoring three goals in that period.

The reaction to the speed with which the South American has adapted to life in Europe has been largely praise, Neymar showing little signs of stumbling in his initial Barcelona footsteps.

Needless to say, if the forward has been impressing this much without rest, the world can't wait to see how successful he is with some beauty sleep.