The likes of footballers are used to so many unforeseen turns throughout the season but contrary to all the assumptions, Neymar just brought a twist that is a far cry from the field. The wonder kid of Brazil already among the globe’s top 100 richest athletes, has been surprisingly announced as the successor to a fortune worth millions of dollars by an absolute stranger.
Initially, it looks as if it were the plot of a Netflix show, but the question that life throws at us from the depths of the coverage is: why does notoriety so often become a stand-in for kin?
Without naming the businessman, the man from Porto Alegre skipped over the family and the state to deliver to Neymar the money of approximately $846 million. The reasoning wasn’t monetary, it was rather of a sentimental nature.
He said he could see himself in Neymar’s relationship with his father and was even able to relate to the footballer’s experience of being in the spotlight. To him, Neymar was kin with whom he shared the same characteristics rather than being of the distant family of which he knew nothing.
By the same token, this action points to the allure of the phenomenon about the manner in which characters like Neymar gain the status of non-sporting figures and yet are integrated into people’s lifepaces.
When there is an absence of tradition in the heir’s position, public aficion for a public figure can convert into a feeling of belonging that is so strong it can rearrange the destiny of umpteens of fortunes.
However, the matter also points to the precariousness of money and very quickly forgetfulness. The ties of family were accused of being untrustworthy, the state was a suspect—only a footballer became the symbol of a heritage.
As it is whether Neymar opts for acceptance or protests, the handing over of the inheritance is suggestive of a scenario where stardom is no longer just an exertion of power but a replacement for intimacy.
At the end of the day, the narrative focuses considerably less on Neymar’s stacked bank account and more on relationships between people, or the absence of such. In certain instances, when people who are lonely and have no relatives are the only ones left, they may find comfort in looking up to a celebrity as being the only “family photo” left.
