Sao Paulo: Despite being only 22 years old, Neymar has already done enough to be ranked among Brazil's greatest players of all time.
If he can keep it up, not even the great Pele may be standing in front of him when the youngster hangs up his boots.
Brazil's most promising player in decades is living up to expectations and has set himself on a path to greatness. He is enchanting with his brilliance and putting up numbers that few others have achieved at his age.
He is already Brazil's fifth-greatest scorer with 40 goals with the national team, and is well on pace to surpass Pele's record of 77 as the nation's most prolific scorer.
If Neymar keeps scoring like this, he may break Pele's record before he turns 28, in 2020. Pele was only two months older than Neymar when he netted his 40th goal. Only Pele and Romario have a better goal average than Neymar with the national team.
"I am very happy and proud of the progress of Neymar since he moved to play in Europe," Pele told The Associated Press in an email. "This season, he keeps proving that he's one of the best players in the world. His growth as a player is fantastic and very beneficial for the Selecao."
