TELL Magazine

They are two of the best footballers on earth playing for one of Europe’s richest teams. These should make any footballer contented and happy as the case may be but Edinson Cavani and Neymar are not known to be friendly with each other. The source of their feud may not be unconnected to ego, as both players seek to stamp their presence in the team. It may also have to do with the price tag of the two players and how they view themselves. Two months ago, the football world was shell – shocked with the news of Neymar completing a transfer deal to Paris Saint-German. It was a deal nobody thought would see the light of day, given the huge sum demanded by Barcelona for Neymar: €220,000,000 but P.S.G  pulled off one of the biggest transfer coups of all time, as it paid the money, which became a world record transfer fee, eclipsing the previous record held by Paul Pogba of Manchester United by more than 100%. Pogba cost United £89,000.000. Cavani, on his part, transferred to PSG from Napoli in 2013 for £55, 000.000.

 Barely 8 matches into the new season,  it is no secret that Neymar and Cavani, from Brazil and Uruguay respectively, are not the best of pals.

 This was visible on September 17, during PSG’s match against Lyon. As the game progressed, new signing Kylian Mbappe won a penalty against Ferland Mendy. Immediately Cavani ran after the ball but was challenged by the world’s most expensive player for the right to take the spot-kick, but the Uruguayan forward stood his ground and overruled both Neymar and Dani Alves, another Brazilian, to take the spot-kick, which was saved by Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopez.

After the full-time whistle, Cavani left the field immediately and did not join the rest of his teammates in saluting the fans. According to reports, the Uruguayan waited in the dressing room, reportedly stopping Neymar in his tracks to inform him of his displeasure. Witnesses say Cavani went face – to – face with the Brazilian forward, and it took the intervention of the Team captain, Thiago Silva to prevent a fight.

About a week after, the two were involved in another spat when Cavani wanted to take a free – kick but was denied by Dani Alves who held the ball for Neymar, prompting Diego Forlan, a fellow countryman of Cavani to accuse Neymar and Dani of behaving childishly.

However, putting things into perspective, one will remember that Cavani played second fiddle to the Swedish striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic at PSG. After being relegated to the background for some time and with Ibrahimovich exiting the club, it is understandable that the Uruguayan doesn’t want a repeat of that. He obviously wants to be the star of PSG, Neymar or not. There were media reports claiming that Cavani had a clause in his contract stipulating that should he emerge the club’s highest goal scorer by the end of the league season he would be awarded 1 million Euros.

However, the dust seems to be now settling down, especially after Cavani ceded a penalty just this past weekend to Neymar in the match against Bordeaux. After their bust-up, all eyes were again on the duo after Bordeaux’s Otavio was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area, but Cavani played the big brother and allowed Neymar to step up and slot in his second goal of the game.

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