Every time a big international event is about to take place, big clubs hesitate releasing their star players for their respective national duties even though player himself wants to impart in every international game. Upcoming Copa America and Olympics events are two such tourneys which are about to take place around same time, which means, States participating in the events would like to bring their players back for international assignments longer than expected and here comes the beginning of controversy where clubs are not ready to release their players for an extended period of time especially when a new season is about to begin. Barcelona’s sensational forward Neymar is one such player who also heads Brazilian national side that is going to play in both the above mentioned events. Obviously South Americans would like to play their captain in both the tourneys and 24-year-old is also ready for the same but Barcelona, who has a contract with forward, is not ready to release him for Olympic as their contract with former Santos player does not authorize the extended absence.
Taking a strict note on the issue another star player, who has also been a victim of similar controversy in the past, Real Madrid’s Portuguese star forward Cristiano Ronaldo has come in support of the Brazilian and says restricting players’ liberty to play in both the events is nothing but ‘cowardly’ by the Spanish giants. He said, “This situation is very difficult for the player. I think it’s cowardly that the player has to choose which competition he has to play in. What we see is that few care about the calendar as each time there are more games and more competitions. The players have fewer holidays. The best example is this situation, which is very bad for the player.
“I would opt to play at the Olympics. It’s an old dream, something untold if Brazil were to win the gold medal at the Olympics in Rio. I don’t know what the situation is like but, ideally, what would be marvellous is to always have Neymar. We have a guarantee that is Neymar. His presence is always very important. He is going through a great time at Barca and what we Brazilians hope is that he is able to repeat that success with the national team.”
No reaction has until came from Neymar who is busy these day for Brazil world cup qualification game against Paraguay this Tuesday and hopefully he would not say anything in public to avoid unnecessary heating of the issue.