Recently on HITC Sport we had an interesting debate on why some of the top Brazilian stars were electing to stay in South America, rather than leave for Europe as soon as they get the chance.
The recent sales of Oscar to Chelsea and Lucas to PSG challenge that theory, but in both cases it was their clubs accepting irresistible offers for their services. Had they rejected them, both players likely would have been more than comfortable staying.
Look at Neymar, if a huge bid was accepted by Santos, he wouldn't put up much of a fight, but he's hardly knocking the door down to leave either.
Brazilian football fan 'Mawa' wrote into us at HITC Sport with his theory on why that is...
"I'm Brazilian. and I think may be I know the reason: The Salary. Now the Brazilian clubs are paying very high salaries, for example, Neymar earns the amount of 2 million reais a month, something like £600,000 pounds.
"So, why they will leave Brazil to join an European club if are are not sure if they will fit in a foreign team? Neymar is a very good player, but his style of football could not be appropriate for English football, for example.
"And you know what? I'm enjoying this moment, once upon a time, our players used to leave their Brazilian teams very young, with no possibility to become a idol, for example, and returning only at the end of their careers. I think this is not fair, would you like to see Rooney, Terry, Bale, Carroll, and a lot of others playing only on TV? We have this possibility now, to see our players grow here, and this is awesome.
"And I know the Brazilian national Football Team are in 12th in FIFA's Ranking, but we were world champions three times with players playing only in Brazil!
"I know the football is different today, and I think the national team's failure is more attributed to the players youthfulness, we are passing some kind of transition.
"I love the English Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga and I know, The Brazilian Championship (called Campeonato Brasileiro) never will be financially equal compared to the European championships, and because of this I think a Brazilian player will never be elected the best player of the year playing in Brazil, but it's ok, it is good to see the players choosing play in their homeland despite all the glamour of playing in Europe, at least for now."
How long do you think Chelsea, Madrid or Barcelona would have to wait for Neymar, do you expect it will be after 2014?
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
Dan Coombs
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Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.
As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.
He grew up wanting to be a Formula 1 driver, but it looks like this dream has passed him by. Instead, he hopes you enjoy reading his writing on our site, as we seek to debate the day's sporting hot topics.
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