ONE of the apparent motives behind Neymar’s desire to leave Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain is to have a better chance of winning the Ballon d’Or.
However, in order to achieve his aim, he will have to make history.
Only one player has ever won world football’s top award while playing in France: Jean-Pierre Papin
He was voted the planet’s best player when he helped Marseille reach the European Cup final in 1991.
Neymar appears to have decided he needs to leave Barcelona because, at the Nou Camp, he believes he will always be secondary to Lionel Messi.
Along with Cristiano Ronaldo, the superstar duo have won each of the last nine Ballon d’Or awards — and the Real Madrid ace is expected to make it five apiece this year.
PSG would build the team around Neymar and he would be granted the platform to showcase his class on the big stage.
However, if his real aim is to win the Ballon d’Or, he may find it even tougher in Ligue 1.
When Zlatan Ibrahimovic followed up 35 goals in his first PSG season with 41 in the next to display arguably the best form of his career, he failed to even reach the podium.
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The Swede finished fourth in the standings in 2013 — behind Franck Ribery.
Historically, players actually leave France to enhance their chances of Ballon d’Or success.
Frenchman Raymond Kopa won the award in 1958, two years after joining Real Madrid from Reims.
While Michele Platini claimed the first of his three successive gongs in 1983 — just six months after leaving St Etienne for Juventus.
And it was the same story for George Weah, who left PSG for AC Milan in the summer of 1995 and won the award in December.
Zinedine Zidane’s sole Ballon d’Or victory came two years after leaving Bordeaux for Juventus.
And Ronaldinho’s moment arrived the same period of time after joining Barcelona from PSG in 2005.
Just Fontaine (1958), Platini (1977, 1980), Alain Giresse (1982) and Jean Tigana (1984) are the only other players from the French top flight to make the top three.
Furthermore, since 2009, only TWO players — Ribery (2013) and Manuel Neuer (2014) — from outside La Liga have made the podium.
Even more incredibly, Ronaldo is the only Real Madrid player to make the top three in that period, while Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann finished in third place last season.
And that means a whopping 14 of the last 24 top-three nominations came from a player in a Barcelona shirt — something Neymar should bear in mind.
The Brazilian, himself, finished third in 2015.
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