Neymar Can Continue Brazil and Barcelona Rise in 2015

For all the negatives Brazilian football spewed out in 2014, Neymar remained the highlight. From disappointing Copa Libertadores campaigns to that catastrophic World Cup semi-final, 2014 has been a year to forget for Brazil, both domestically and internationally, with one exception.

This past week, Selecao boss Dunga said the 22-year-old craque said it is only a matter of time until he is the world’s best, and Brazil can help him get there, as reported by Marca. While that remains slightly presumptuous—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo look set to continue their two-man tug-of-war for that particular title—there is absolutely no doubting his importance to Brazil, and, increasingly, Barcelona.

For every young hopeful thrown off the Brazilian factory line, superlatives ring in the air before the player has even touched down in Europe. But it is far from a one-way ticket to success.

Examples such as Kerlon, famed for his seal dribble almost a decade ago, serve that Brazilians, despite the reputation, do not come with an in-built guarantee.

For Neymar himself there were plenty of doubts, with pressure only added following the rapid ascension of his reputation with Santos and his promising displays with the national side under Mano Menezes. It did not help that he was making his name at the home of the greatest Brazilian of them all, but Neymar has worn the label with an ice-cool aplomb that would make a cucumber proud.

He has continued to grow from a young upstart into Dunga’s leader, supplanting Thiago Silva from the role he had made his own. But, above all, the development in his game is there for all to see.

Gone is the impulse to go to ground at the slightest physical contact. Honed are those attacking instincts that have allowed him to threaten in both Luiz Felipe Scolari’s target man system, and now Dunga’s striker-free Selecao.

At the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup he gave a hint of what the world could expect 12 months down the line. When the World Cup came around, he was the only Brazilian who could walk away from the debacle with his head held high.

Now, Neymar has completed a full four-year cycle in national colours and is going round again. 2015 will see him and Brazil competing at the Copa America in Chile, the competition where he made his competitive bow for Brazil.

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That year ended in crushing disappointment, but early signs under Dunga have been encouraging that the country can at least put in a challenge in June. It is a tournament which has been kind to Brazil in recent years, and it brought the boss his first piece of silverware during his previous reign as national team coach.

But as much as this is about Brazil, it is about the man who personifies that hope. Following the World Cup semi-final, positive feeling was thin on the ground.

That was underlined by a comprehensive drubbing at the hands of Holland in the third-place play-off, meaning Brazil finished the tournament with the leakiest defence, having shipped 14 goals.

Neymar has been this side's saviour. What he will be, in 2015, is the leader. As he continues to make rapid progress at Camp Nou, and talk of a contract extension until 2020, as reported by SPORT (h/t World Soccer Talk), is proof of his growing importance to the Catalan outfit. The next year is the perfect opportunity for the attacker to cement his place among the world's leading lights.

According to the Barcelona website, he has scored 14 goals for the club in 18 games this season, at a ratio of a goal every 97.5 minutes. Any doubts about his ability to adapt to European football, and at one of the biggest clubs on the planet, have now been eradicated.

Neymar announced himself to the world. He took his first steps with the national side. He made the transition to Europe.

His rapid ascension to date suggests Neymar can and will continue his upward trajectory in 2015. He may not yet reach the dizzying heights of the very peak of the footballing pyramid, but he is getting ever closer.