Neymar is the planet's most marketable sportsman and hailed by Pele to surpass him as Brazil's greatest -

The fee could rise beyond £60million, but, then again, genius doesn’t come cheap these days. Genius is the word used to describe Neymar by one of his former coaches, and the bulk of that small fortune has already changed hands to facilitate his move from Santos to Barcelona this summer. England are about to discover what the newly-crowned La Liga champions can expect for their money, and it could just prove a chastening experience, judging by a recent confession from Brazil’s latest golden boy. Not only do opposing defenders have little idea what he is likely to do next, with the ball at his feet, it appears he is not entirely sure himself. Scroll down for video Type Neymar wonder goal into any internet search engine, and you will be spoilt for choice. There is page after page of them, but the two that completed a hat-trick against Internacional last year take some beating. Both originated near the halfway line and were over in a flash. Each time, he burst past one challenge after another with lightning speed before beating the keeper with ease. Overuse of superlatives down the years has probably diminished their ability to convey the impact of such special moments, but a simple statistic did the job. In much the same way as modern technology can gauge the speed of a bowler’s delivery in cricket, Neymar’s movement was timed for those two goals. For one, he evidently ran at 31km an hour with the ball tied to his right boot, as he left five Inter players stranded over a distance of 65m. They are stunning figures, and he admitted he was shocked and at a loss to explain how he did it. ‘I could never score two goals like that even in a video game, because you have to touch the ball so quickly,’ he said. ‘I am going to have to watch it all on television to see exactly how it happened, because I’m still not sure. I only know that I was running and dribbling, and when I looked up, the goal was in front of me.’ Confirmation that his brilliance is all down to instinct suggests any masterplan to try and stifle it could prove futile when England face him at a renovated Maracana on Sunday night. Born in the suburbs of Sao Paulo in February, 1992, a flair for being unpredictable and unstoppable was already evident by the time he made his Santos debut at 17 and international bow a year later, when he scored with a header in the 28th-minute of a 2-0 win against the United States. He was third at the South American Footballer of the Year awards at just 18 and showed it was no fluke by winning it outright the next two seasons running. His 100th professional goal arrived against Palmeiras just days after his 20th birthday, and when Santos celebrated their 100th anniversary two months later, no less a luminary than Pele was moved to say: ‘Everyone is talking about Lionel Messi, and he is a star. But to be the best ever, he must first find a way of becoming better than Neymar. At the moment, Messi is just more experienced.’ Pele's judgement may have been at least partly based on Neymar’s goal against Japan, when he outdid even one of the great man’s most celebrated tricks from the 1970 World Cup. Whereas Pele missed the target, after dummying to take the ball round Uruguay’s keeper but letting it pass the other side instead, Neymar made no mistake after executing the same sleight of foot. The 2011 Puskas Award winner against Flamengo - when he shrugged off two challenges and played a one-two before wrong-footing another marker and scoring - is also worth a watch, while an impudent penalty against Sao Paulo in February, 2010 led to a hastily-convened emergency meeting of FIFA’s law makers. Trotting up to the spot, he stopped his run at the last split-second. So late, in fact, that keeper Rogerio Ceni was committed to a full-length dive to his right. As Ceni landed in a heap, Neymar calmly rolled the ball into the other corner, before turning away with a broad grin on his face. It was promptly christened the Paradinha (Portuguese for ‘little stop’), but it was no laughing matter at FIFA, who announced soon after: ‘Feinting in the run-up to a penalty kick to confuse opponents is permitted. 'However, feinting to kick the ball once the player has completed his run-up is now considered an infringement and an act of unsporting behaviour, for which the player must be cautioned.’ While most of his eye-catching work tends to result in a goal, the showman in him can emerge at any moment in any part of the pitch. Against Atletico Mineiro last year, he was seemingly hemmed in near the corner flag, until jamming the ball between his feet and flicking it over the back of his head, as he flung himself forward past a startled marker. The hapless defender did his best to give chase but could only hack his tormentor down from behind for a booking, as Mineiro’s Ronaldinho looked on with a rueful smile that seemed to confirm an acceptance that his crown as Brazil’s supreme entertainer had slipped away. As is often the case with those who are lavishly gifted, there is a dark side to the 21-year old, and if he admits to having butterflies at the prospect of being a Barcelona player, there may be some unease among Nou Camp bosses at his frequent loss of control. One of his greatest moments, when he scored one of the goals that made Santos Copa Libertadores champions for the first time since the Pele era 48 years earlier, was soured by disgraceful scenes moments after the final whistle, when players and officials waded into each other on the pitch. A flying kung fu kick by Penarol’s Fabian Estoyanoff was seen as the single worst act of violence in what turned into a mass brawl, but Neymar was hardly blameless after being photographed stamping on an opponent at the end of a showpiece that is the equivalent of the Champions’ League final. It was by no means an isolated instance of his temperament letting him down. When Santos won a penalty against Guarani in September, 2010, Neymar grabbed the ball but was forced to surrender it to his team-mate Marcel, after coach  Dorival Junior pointed out he had missed with his three previous attempts. While Marcel carefully placed the ball on the spot and slotted it home, Neymar advanced towards the bench, hurling abuse at Dorival, ignoring the attempts of a linesman to calm him down and finally hurling a water bottle to the ground in a fit of pique. He was fined and warned about his future conduct, though an attempt by Dorival to impose a two-week suspension proved a step too far. There were complaints from the club’s sponsors, and Dorival was promptly sacked. It may have looked the ultimate example of player power, but there was at least a show or remorse from the wayward frontrunner, who summoned the local media to the training ground the following morning. There he said: ‘I am not here to make excuses but to apologise to everyone who enjoys football. The real Neymar is not the Neymar you saw yesterday. The real Neymar is a joyful player, always happy and with a smile on his face. When I got home and saw what I had done, I was embarrassed.’ There were evidently no hard feelings from Dorival, who reflected on his time with the rapidly-emerging global star, and said: ‘He is already superior to Cristiano Ronaldo in every way. He is much sharper than Cristiano, more decisive in his play and more of a genius. As the years go by, he will reach Messi’s level.’ Away from the pitch, there was controversy when he announced he was to become a dad at 19 and that any relationship with the unnamed 17-year old mother would not be continuing after the birth. She was later revealed as Carolina Nogueira Dantas, but he was true to his word, after his son Davi Lucca duly arrived in August, 2011. If there was no role for Carolina in his future plans, he at least looked the part of doting dad, as he held Davi in his arms and described the birth as ‘2.8 kilograms (around 6lbs) of pure happiness.’ A succession of glamour girls have since been photographed on his arm, the latest being Brazilian soap opera star Bruna Marquezine. It fits the ranking given to him by SportsPro magazine, as the most marketable athlete in the world. France Football listed him seventh among the world’s richest footballers last year, with a combined income of £11million, and he will doubtless have advanced further up the pecking order after amassing lucrative deals from the likes of Nike, Panasonic, Volkswagen, Red Bull, Unilever and Santander. He’s got the world at his feet, and as an extra warning for England, there seems little prospect of his move to Barcelona proving a distraction. Representing his country is an honour not to be taken lightly. He underlined this by saying: ‘It is very humbling to be compared to Pele, the best player that ever lived, but my dad has told me all about Garrincha, the way he attacked defenders and dribbled with the ball at pace. I think his style may be more similar to mine, but either way, there could be no greater honour. ‘To be spoken of in the same breath as those two makes me very proud and determined to do justice to their memory.’