Neymar Should Be Picked to Play Copa America with Brazil over 2016 Rio Olympics

Neymar made the headlines once again in world football last week despite the fact he didn't actually set foot on a pitch over the weekend.

Suspended for Barcelona's match against Eibar on Sunday, GloboEsporte (via AS) reported that Neymar's absence allowed him to return to Brazil to celebrate his sister's birthday—exactly as he did this time last year. Making the news without actually doing something on the pitch isn't new for Neymar, one of the game's most talked-about stars.

Now it is Dunga, the Brazil coach, who is forced into a decision about his star man: choose the Barcelona forward to feature at the Copa America Centenario over the summer or play him in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Predictably, his nation wants him to appear in both, as reported by Esporte Interativo TV (h/t Marca), but it's likely to end up as a compromise of choosing just one—and that one should, without doubt, be the Copa America.

Argument

Dunga has long since come to rely on Neymar for the national team, making him the captain following the 2014 FIFA World Cup and revolving his other attacking talents depending on where Neymar will slot into the team on any given matchday, either centrally or from the left.

Neymar's 46 goals at international level is almost four times greater than his nearest team-mates—Oscar and Hulk both have a dozen—and after Barca team-mate Dani Alves, the forward is the most experienced player in the squad in terms of caps (69).

Having the Brazil No. 10 available for both tournaments would be ideal for his nation, naturally, in terms of quality, interest in the side and to boost their chances of winning. But it's simply not a likely scenario.

He has already played 35 games this season, more than 3,000 minutes of action, per Transfermarkt, and he is likely to take that total to close to 50 matches and 4,500 minutes come the end of his club campaign.

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As a one-off, perhaps that's manageable. But last season it was 51 games, and 2013-14 was 41. In between, there has been the Confederations Cup, the World Cup and the Copa America—in fact, Neymar has played one tournament in each offseason since 2011, making it six consecutive summers once he takes part in one or both of the Copa America or Olympics later this year.

In short, one tournament in 2016 is more than enough.

Marca reported Barcelona will invoke a ruling to ensure Neymar can only play in one tournament if necessary, though it's more probable Brazil and the Blaugrana will come to an agreement.

2015-16 Split

Taking a look at this season in isolation, it's clear Neymar's form has peaked and fallen, as it does with most players, but to a far greater variance in end product because of the greater heights he is capable of hitting.

Early in the season, Neymar showed good form in front of goal without playing at his best level, notching eight goals in his first seven matches in La Liga—including a four-goal haul against Rayo Vallecano, where he was impressive in his all-round game.

That marked the start of Leo Messi's absence from the team through injury, and there's no question who carried the torch in his stead. Neymar stepped up big time, comfortably escalating his form to being the most involved, most decisive and simply best all-round player around—not just in La Liga but Europe.

This, of course, was at a time when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was flying, Robert Lewandowski had been netting at a rate of about a goal per half of football and Gareth Bale was close to hitting his best spell of form for the season. But Neymar was above even those players, absolutely stealing the show.

Acceleration, one-on-one ability, creativity in possession and an extremely clinical run of form saw him keep Barcelona on track in La Liga and in Europe, scoring a whopping 13 goals and notching eight assists in just 10 games between October and November.

That was Ballon d'Or form, no question, if extrapolated over an entire season.

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It hasn't been maintained, however, which is where questions of longevity and consistency at the very highest level come in. Neymar has suffered an obvious drop-off in involvement and importance, not simply because Messi is back in the team but because it's impossible for players to maintain such an intensity and consistency in their game over long periods.

Neymar has only scored twice since mid-January, but it's not just in tangible end product where his form has noticeably dipped. In open play, he isn't attacking and slicing through defences with the single-minded assurance he was earlier in the campaign, he isn't as aggressive off the ball in his movements and isn't surging toward the six-yard box as often.

That's not criticism but observation. It happens to every player, is natural and to be expected.

It can further be expected that his form makes another about-turn before the end of this campaign. When the big, decisive games draw closer, when the true rivals come into town—Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Champions League opponents along the lines of Bayern Munich or Juventus—he will be there.

Neymar will be one of the players Luis Enrique relies upon, and it's almost certain he'll come up with the goods in some of those matches—but he can't do it in all of them.

Priorities

Which brings us back to the original question: Which competition should Neymar feature in for Brazil, and why is the Copa America more important?

There are arguments both ways, of course, but this isn't a discussion for a collector's item or a romantic—this is purely in terms of what one of the world's top players should do. And that is simple: not play in an under-23s tournament as one of a handful of overage players but feature on the greatest stage of the game in his continent, the Copa America.

Quite aside from being the biggest event, Neymar is Brazil's captain. For the nation to voluntarily not have him lead out the rest of the players would be insulting to them, demeaning to Brazil's participation and a pointless surrendering of a competition they should be confident of challenging for.

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Sure, the Olympics has its own strong points for the argument. It's on home soil, it's a tournament Brazil have never won, a competition Neymar essentially made his name in during his participation in 2012 and he'll perhaps feel unfinished business with it, having lost in the final.

But does he, at 24 years of age, want to be leading a group comprised of Rodrigo Ely, Felipe Anderson and Andreas Pereira to glory? Or would he rather be captaining his fellow experienced stars of the world game, title-winners and those capable of winning future Champions Leagues, such as David Luiz, Willian, Roberto Firmino and Douglas Costa?

It's obvious which group Neymar should be part of and lead.

Add in the fact the Olympics would see him miss club matches next season, playing in the Copa affords him rest time ahead of 2016-17. And quite simply, Brazil have little chance of success without him. The Olympics, with young players and all their inconsistencies and surprise packages, is hit-or-miss at the best of times.

If Brazil want success, being at their best in the Copa America offers the greatest chance of glory. Neymar must be part of that plan.

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