Saved from his Paris Saint-Germain nightmare by Tottenham in January, Lucas Moura has been used very sporadically by Mauricio Pochettino so far, mostly featuring him in the FA Cup until their 2-1 loss to Manchester United.
While undeniably talented, the 25-year-old has never pushed on as many thought he would, once seen as one of the brightest talents to come out of Brazil.
In fact, back when he was a lot younger, before playing with Neymar, he used to play against the Paris Saint-Germain superstar in futsal on a regular basis, and he used to come out on top.
The quotes, relayed by RMC Sport, appear in Neymar’s biography “Brazil’s Prince”.
“It was a great time, especially since I used to always beat Neymar then. They were always difficult games, very tense, but my team always came out on top. I can boast and say I always beat him at futsal. OK, on a normal pitch, it’s different. He has a lot more wins than me. My dad tells me I used to be better than Neymar around that time, but there’s some bias there.”
It’s fair to say both players’ careers took very different turns after their respective moves to Europe, with one becoming one of the key parts of an ambitious and fruitful Barcelona team, while the other went to Paris Saint-Germain as a very expensive commodity who never really shone as expected.
There’s hope Lucas can turn things around for himself at Tottenham, but it’s too early to judge that.
Give him a full preseason with Spurs and see what happens next season.
