Neymar: For Football's King-in-Waiting, the Waiting Game Has Its Own Challenges

The blond guy is back. No, not that one; the other one. 

If Neymar until now has been figuratively following in the footsteps of Lionel Messi, he's now literally doing so, too. On Wednesday, the Brazilian returned to Barcelona, arriving at El Prat airport with cap on but blond hair underneath, looking from afar like his esteemed team-mate and ready to get going immediately. 

"I see myself playing against Alaves on Saturday," he told those there waiting for him.  

Whether his manager does is a different story. While Barcelona have been making strong early progress this season, Neymar has been absent, yet to take part in a single training session with his club in a summer that's been unusual for him but successful at the same time. Indeed, his sitting out of the Copa America pleased his club and coach but not his country. Gold in Rio, though, made up for that.

Even if Brazil's capture of the Olympic title was seen as a hollow victory by some, for the host nation, it wasn't. It meant something—a lot, in fact—and Neymar led them to it, scoring in the quarters, the semis and the final. He's continued since, too, propelling Brazil to victories in their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers with goals against Ecuador and Colombia. 

His scoring record at international level is now astonishing. Still only 24, he's struck 48 times in national colours; that puts him level with Zico, only seven behind Romario and within sight of Ronaldo and Pele. 

It's been known for some time but now even more so: With Brazil, he's king. But with Barcelona, he's not—not yet, anyway. 

And the waiting game is a long one. Does that matter?

The initial inclination is to say no. The process of ascension is more often gradual than rapid, and Neymar's current trajectory at the Camp Nou has him headed for where he wants to be.  

After a transitional first season in Catalonia that brought 15 goals for the Brazilian, his second and third seasons added a further 70. His tallies in the league alone—nine, then 22, then 24—say much about what he's becoming, and the sensations add to the numbers, the feeling of him growing both in terms of his completeness as a player and as an emerging leader. 

It's also true that few have it better than him right now. Neymar is a huge figure in the dominant team on the planet, and one third of perhaps the greatest front line in history. As rides go, it doesn't get better than this—who cares if he has to wait a while to become the guy?

The matter of ambition is interesting here, though.  

It's striking to look back on Neymar's 2015-16 season and see it as one with two defined periods: with Messi and without Messi. In the campaign's opening months when the Argentinian was sidelined with a knee injury, Neymar became a version of himself we hadn't seen before. 

Leading with a single-mindedness, a relentlessness, he grabbed four of his team's five goals against Rayo Vallecano and two of three against Villarreal, including that one. He also sparkled at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Clasico; even in defeat down south in Sevilla, he was the dominant player on the pitch by a distance. 

Alongside him, Luis Suarez was brilliant, too, but Neymar was the boss and everyone knew it. Even the army-like haircut at the time seemed to say something: I'm here to work.

But Messi's return saw Neymar's season slow a little, something that continued into the new year. There was an array of possible factors in that—the distraction of a judicial hearing, the baggage of the national-team issue and a sense of fatigue stemming from his early barrage—but there's a simple explanation: Messi's presence caps what's possible for Neymar. 

It's intriguing to ponder what that means for football's king-in-waiting. 

The natural assumption is that Neymar will continue trending north season on season, and that when Messi moves aside, he'll be there at the top; not just at Barcelona but in football in general. 

But there are two things to consider here that will make it more challenging than it's often portrayed: First, Messi isn't going anywhere, not for a long time; and second, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have changed our expectations and what we consider normal. 

Ten years ago, 40-goal seasons were almost unheard of, but now they're a common occurrence. Messi has gone past 40 for seven seasons running; Ronaldo has gone past 50 for six. Throughout, we've grown oddly accustomed to this sustained dominance as though it's the done thing, but it's not. 

These two men are two of the biggest outliers in football history. Whereas they've undertaken a year-after-year march into the previously unknown, for everyone else, football is a journey of peaks and troughs. Essentially, just because Messi has never stopped getting better and better doesn't automatically mean it will be the same for the guy who comes after him. 

It's also important to remember: Messi has never had a barrier in front of him. 

Neymar does. It's Messi. 

Thus, the Brazilian's return to Barcelona this week sees him entering what is in a way a challenging period personally: How do you go about it while you wait?

There was a telling line from Neymar ahead of the Olympics, when he was asked in Brazil about his life off the field that had come under focus. 

"On the field I give my all," he said, per AS. "Your question is loaded. If you were 24 years old and had won the honours that I've won would you be different?"

Neymar has every right to defend himself; what he does away from the pitch is his business. At the same time, the line pointed to him having reached an important juncture in his career. On a team level, he's already done everything there is to do in Europe, every trophy already his. All that's left for him to achieve is the complete fulfilment of his own talent and the quest to reach No. 1 on a personal level. 

But right now, he can't. And it's not up to him. "He's unfortunate to be around in the era of Messi," said Ronaldinho this week. 

It leaves Neymar at a point from which major progress is difficult in an immediate sense. When his all-conquering team-mate was absent last season, we saw what that progress looks like, as he morphed into the world's dominant player for a period of two months. But now the obstacle is there again.

For now, marginal gains will have to satisfy him, and that shouldn't be underestimated. Neymar has got to where he is through drive and ambition, but away from team success, his ambition from here is effectively on hold. Already in the discussion over the world's best two or three players, he can't go anywhere until you-know-who does.  

So what do you do while you wait, then? How do you progress? How do you avoid drift? How do you maintain the relentless streak? How do keep your eye on an ultimate goal that you're ready for but that's still years away?

It will be fascinating to find out. 

Everyone wants to be the king-in-waiting, and Neymar is. But the waiting game has its own challenges.

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