It has been three seasons since Neymar got transferred to Barcelona and Gerath Bale went to Real Madrid. Ever Since then they have been playing wonderful football for their respective clubs with Neymar winning two La Ligas , Champions League, etc and Bale winning two Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, etc. However, at a point of time Barca wanted Bale and Madrid wanted Neymar. Barcelona reportedly bid for Bale in 12-13 whereas Madrid were willing to pay up to 120 million Euros for Neymar.
What would have happened if the deal had gone through?
Neymar in Real Madrid:
Neymar has well proven that he can equally adept at both possession based football and counter-attack based football. At Madrid which deploy both systems depending on the whims of its coach, he wouldn't suffer much.
Neymar would link up with Isco/Modric/Casemiro/Kovacic very well. Madrid could use him as a forward in Ronaldo’s presence and as a left winger in his absence. There might be personality clashes as Neymar would have become the ‘Crown’ of Madrid’s attack. Although one might argue that Neymar scores as well as provides assists at Barcelona for Messi , he could do the same at Madrid. However, one should also consider that Messi-Neymar-Suarez apply a tiki-takka approach when it comes to scoring. They dribble, they slide past defenders and curl the ball into the net, while Bale and Ronaldo are more about outpacing the players, crossing and shooting the ball into the net.
But Neymar coming to Real Madrid would leave the set-pieces slot entirely to Ronaldo as of now he is battling it out with Bale but in presence of Neymar he would be the sole set-pieces choice (Yes, James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos are excellent free-kick takers, but it would have been Ronaldo).
In the best case scenario there would have been a beautiful chemistry between Ronaldo and Neymar with the duo destroying every single opponent . As far as the positions are concerned Neymar tends to shift left and Ronaldo to the centre. So Neymar being a CF and Ronaldo LW wouldn’t matter much. In the worst case there coul;d have been constant clashes between Ronlado and Neymar over a range of reasons . Since Neymar is way younger than Ronaldo logically, Ronaldo is the one who should be sold but you never know what Florentino would have done.
This partnership could have well started a spell of total ‘Supreme Dominance’ in the World of Football for Real Madrid.
NB: There would be more 'What If' articles in the future. Readers wanting a specific 'What if' in same or different sport can comment.
