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Neymar Santos Sr. is the Lavar Ball of European football

By Josh Ricker

PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 5: Neymar Jr of PSG and his father Neymar da Silva Santos aka Neymar Sr (left) during the French Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and Amiens SC at Parc des Princes on August 5, 2017 in Paris, . (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 5: Neymar Jr of PSG and his father Neymar da Silva Santos aka Neymar Sr (left) during the French Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and Amiens SC at Parc des Princes on August 5, 2017 in Paris, . (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images) /
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Some of us have controlling parents. But for others, their parents go to a whole new levels of crazy. Neymar Santos Sr. is one of those figures and he is bad enough that he should be considered as the Lavar Ball of European football.

Neymar Santos Sr. is the father of Brazilian winger Neymar, and most of you probably know him from his outlandish statements about his son and through transfer talks. The 54 year-old has had his hands all over every single move Neymar has completed in his career, most of them being unethical or schemed in some way or another.

Bleacher Report just reported the following story about the former professional now father/agent,

"However, when Neymar came to leave Santos for Barcelona, the Brazilian club pocketed just €17.1 million of a deal that was eventually revealed to have cost €86.2 million. The Neymars, on the other hand, earned a reported €40 million."

His father has tricked many into bad deals, and like Lavar Ball, has spoke his son’s value “into existence”. Most will remember Lavar Ball challenging the Lakers to draft his son enough that it actually happened. The same thing happened with the recruitment of future Hall of Famer, LeBron James.

Santos Sr. did a similar thing for his son when he sent him from Catalonia to Paris Saint-Germain for a fee of €222 million. The deal has changed the transfer market forever, skyrocketing the valuation of current players. He is now a part of what will be once again the biggest transfer of all time featuring €100 million plus Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic to go back to Barcelona.

Is he really worth that much? Most logical people would say probably not, as you can get a player like Eden Hazard for much cheaper (€100 million). However, his father is the puppeteer behind this whole scheme, and will inflate his son’s value as much as he can to cause a hopeful bidding war between Real Madrid and Barca.

Next. Barcelona are prepared to let two talented midfielders leave the club. dark

While Santos does not have a “Big Baller Brand”, nobody has controlled their son’s actions and value quite like Lavar Ball and himself.

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