1. Ready For The Battle
A culmination of a lot points already made, this final point sums up why Rooney is more valuable to a team than Neymar. Naturally, you need flair players who can unpick a locked defence as well as the hard workers who do the pressing and sweating, but Rooney is a better mix of artist and artisan, while Neymar is still operating in his comfort zone to some extent. Neymar gets the benefit of generous refereeing decisions. Diving is very much part of the South American game, as we have seen with Luis Suarez, and even the Spanish league, which the English may see as lenient when it comes to dark arts like diving and unsporting play, seems extremely strict compared to the Brazilian leagues. A number of times Neymar was simply outfought by Glen Johnson, a player who is an impressive physical specimen but hardly thought of as one of the strongest or toughest players in the Premier League. Early on in the game, Neymar was played through the middle but Gary Cahill simply swafted him away as the ball trickled towards Joe Hart. While Neymar would benefit from a move to Europe, its understandable why he wont move until after the World Cup in 2014. If he joined a Barcelona, Real Madrid or even a Chelsea, he would likely find the change in footballing culture quite a shock and might need time to adapt. Seeing Brazils biggest hope sat on the bench would cause an uproar back home, an added pressure Neymar does not need. Neymar is capable of the sublime but as hes likely to find out in the Confederations Cup and then the World Cup, excelling in the Brazilian leagues does not mean you will excel on the World stage, against the worlds best, who are quicker, stronger and smarter than those in Brazil. Once Neymar has established himself in Europe and grown as a player he may be more valuable than Wayne Rooney, but now Rooney is fit and happy and on form, there is only one winner. To put is simply, Brazil need a player like Rooney more than England need a player like Neymar. What do you think? Is Neymar a better player than Rooney, or is the Englishman more valuable all round? Share your thoughts below.