Former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar is reportedly planning on becoming a professional poker player once he retires from football.
The Brazilian forward, currently back at his first club Santos, still has a few years left in him at the highest level, but it seems he’s already planning for his post-playing career.
Neymar has competed at poker tournaments before, and it seems the 33-year-old fully plans on taking up the game at a higher level once he no longer has football commitments.
One of the finest attacking players of his generation, Neymar has been a joy to watch on the football pitch, and it will be intriguing to see what kind of impact he can make as a poker player.
For the time being, he might have to make do with online gaming to practice his skills, so he could Download Teenpatti for some games while he’s relaxing at home or travelling on the team bus.
Neymar’s complicated legacy after off-the-field distractions
It will come as little surprise to a lot of fans who’ve watched Neymar down the years that he has other interests away from the pitch.
The former Barca man has always had great talent, but his commitment to the game has sometimes been questioned.
While at PSG in particular, Neymar would often miss games with injury when speculation was rife that he was exaggerating the problems in order to party with friends and family.
Some might also frown upon Neymar spending so much time playing poker when he’s also been a professional footballer.
One imagines the former Brazil international could have gone down as one of the all-time greats if he’d focused more and worked harder, but at the end of the day everyone is different and entitled to pursue their own personal interests outside of work.
It’s easy to forget that football is a job, even if for some of us it would be the absolute dream job!
Neymar is also far from the only footballer who’s dabbled with poker, with other big names like Cristiano Ronaldo and Gerard Pique also playing at tournaments from time to time.
Neymar will have to up his game, though, as he was recently eliminated very early on in a tournament that took place a few months back.
Still, he’ll surely be putting in the practice to up his game and no doubt secure some lucrative sponsorship deals in the process.
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