Barton: Neymar the Justin Bieber of football

Posted Wednesday, March 27, 2013 by Foxsports.com

After watching Neymar in action in Brazil's 1-1 draw with Russia, Joey Barton took to Twitter to compare the forward to Canadian popstar Justin Bieber.

The outspoken Marseille player does not believe in the hype that Neymar will become one of football's best players in the future. The Brazilian is highly-rated by clubs across Europe and has been constantly linked with the La Liga duo of Real Madrid and Barcelona for a summer switch this year.

However, Barton, who was surprisingly attacked by Bieber fans for criticising the 19-year-old on his Twitter account earlier in the month, is adamant that the youngster is an overrated commodity.

The QPR player tweeted on Monday, "Neymar is the Justin Bieber of football. Brilliant on the old YouTube. Cat piss in reality."

"Its amazing what some decent YouTube footage can achieve. I'll have to get one up doing some keepy-ups in the garden.

"Neymar's actually been one of their livelier players tonight [Monday]. But people should stop chatting pony. He isn't in the same stratosphere as the boy [Lionel] Messi and that [Cristiano] Ronaldo fella.

"Stop going on about goals in Brazil League as well. I once scored 77 in a season in the Rainhill and Byrne U14-League and thats a stronger competition."

This is not the first time that the ex-Newcastle player has taken umbrage at the 21-year-old's immense popularity among football fans. He carried out a similar jibe against the Santos player last month that elicited a response from the player as well.

"I don't know who he is. I just have to keep doing my job for the Seleção," he commented in February to Terra.com.

Neymar was unable to score in the international friendly against Russia and the Seleccao needed a late goal by Fred to prevent a defeat against Fabio Capello's side.