Neymar joined Santos in 2003 and eventually made his first-team debut six years later aged 17 on 7 March 2009 in a 2–1 win against Oeste. He made another appearance the following week against Mogi Mirim, during which he scored his first goal for Santos. On 11 April, in the 2009 Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg against Palmeiras, Neymar scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win at Estádio Vila Belmiro. In the final however Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Corinthians.
On 15 April 2010, Neymar scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 routing of Guarani in the round of 16 of the Brazilian Cup. Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games, the club were crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals. Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition.
Neymar's performances for Santos have drawn comparisons to Brazilian idols such as Robinho and Pelé. In June 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid from English Premier League team West Ham United for his services. Neymar has also attracted interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Feyenoord, Internazionale, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Juventus, with Real Madrid even going so far as to claim that they had signed a pre-contract agreement with Neymar's agent, Renato Rodrigues, which Santos fervently denied. Following this, Santos placed a €30 million price tag on the player's head, and tied Neymar down to a new contract lasting until December 2014. Neymar himself said he did not think it was time to leave Santos, and that he was entirely focused on his current club, However, Renato Rodrigues insisted that the Santos striker does not want to stay in his home country of Brazil.
On 30 November 2010, Santos sold 5% interests on future transfer fees received to an investment group, Terceira Estrela Investimentos S.A. (TEISA), for R$ 3,549,900 (€1.5 million).
In April 2011, Neymar was sent off against Colo-Colo in the Copa Libertadores for celebrating by donning a mask of himself upside down that had been thrown onto the pitch.
International career
Following Neymar's performances for Brazil's U-17 team at the 2009 U-17 World Cup in which he scored a goal in the opening match against Japan former Brazilian football players Pelé and Romário reportedly urged coach Dunga to take Neymar to the 2010 World Cup. Although the widespread opinion that Neymar deserved a place in Dunga's squad went as far as a 14,000 signature petition, and despite the huge pressure on Dunga to pick Neymar, he was omitted from both the squad of 23, and the stand-by list. Although Dunga described Neymar as "extremely talented", he claimed that he had not been tested sufficiently on the international level to earn a World Cup spot and he had failed to impress enough while on international duty.
On 26 July 2010, Neymar was selected in the squad for the Brazil team by new head coach Mano Menezes for a friendly match against the USA on 10 August 2010. He started the game and wore the number 11 jersey. He scored on his debut after 28 minutes, a header coming from an André Santos cross in a 2–0 win for Brazil.
Neymar celebrates a goal for Brazil against Scotland in March 2011 with Andre Santos and Ramires
On 27 March 2011, he scored twice in a 2–0 win against Scotland at the Emirates Stadium. During the match against Scotland, a banana was thrown onto the pitch after a penalty was taken, which Neymar claimed was an act of racism from a Scottish fan. However a German student later admitted to throwing the banana.
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