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- Neymar in numbers: Goals, assists and fouls as prolific PSG superstar signs new deal
Neymar in numbers: Goals, assists and fouls as prolific PSG superstar signs new deal
Paris Saint-Germain have agreed new terms with their number 10 and the Opta data shows just how effective Neymar has been in France.
Neymar finally committed his future to Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday as his contract extension was announced by the club.
The world's most expensive footballer has been the subject of transfer speculation almost since he signed in Paris in 2017.
But PSG have worked hard to get their key men to agree new terms and they will now hope team-mate Kylian Mbappe follows suit.
To mark Neymar's new deal, we used Opta data to look at his outstanding PSG career so far.
Setting the standard
In 112 matches for PSG, Neymar has scored 85 goals – averaging out at one every 111 minutes.
The forward has also created 2.8 chances per game to supply 45 assists for 130 goal involvements, which have occurred every 73 minutes.
That total of 130 is short of Mbappe's 182 in a PSG shirt over the same period, but Neymar is actually more prolific than his colleague.
His 84 Ligue 1 goal involvements have come every 68 minutes, the best rate in the competition since Opta first began collecting such data in the 2006-07 season.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic ended his PSG career at the same rate with 151 goal involvements.
Matching PSG partner
Mbappe is third on that list, behind Neymar and Ibrahimovic, with a goal involvement every 71 minutes in Ligue 1 – including his Monaco career.
That is only a marginal deficit, though, and there is not much to split PSG's two leading superstars.
Since Neymar's PSG debut, the former Barcelona man has scored and assisted in the same Ligue 1 game on 19 occasions. The only player to match that return is Mbappe.
Mbappe has not been able to equal Neymar's single-game benchmark, however.
The 29-year-old was involved in six goals – four goals and two assists – against Dijon in January 2018, the most in one Ligue 1 match since Opta records began.
Neymar's importance to PSG is further evidenced by their record in games he has scored in. Only three of those 65 matches in all competitions – against Guingamp in the Coupe de la Ligue in January 2019, Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in February 2020 and Lorient in Ligue 1 in January 2021 – have ended in defeat.
Still a top target
This deal might warn off potential suitors after several years of links with a return to Barca, but Neymar can still expect plenty of attention from opponents.
The Brazilian's sensational footwork draws defenders in, as he averages 10.2 dribbles per game in a PSG shirt with a 54.3 per cent success rate.
That average increases slightly to 10.5 dribbles per game in the Champions League, the most of any player since the start of the 2017-18 season.
But Neymar's talents often frustrate his markers, leading to him winning 4.4 fouls per game in all competitions for the French club. That mark increases slightly to 4.7 in the Champions League, but even the 4.2 in Ligue 1 is a competition high.
He can now expect at least four more years of rough treatment in Paris.