Neymar named his favourite England player back in 2020 but the former Three Lions star has found himself well out of favour in the national team set up.
In 2020, Neymar was preparing to line up for Paris Saint-Germain in a Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.
The two sides were drawn against one another in the round of 16, with Erling Haaland bagging a stunning brace in the first leg to give Dortmund a 2-1 lead.
PSG turn things around in the second leg with a 2-0 victory and went on to reach the final before being defeated by Bayern Munich.
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But while Haaland was getting a lot of the headlines, Neymar waxed lyrical about a different player, showering praise on Jadon Sancho.
At the time, Sancho was on fire for Dortmund with 12 goals and 13 assists in just 19 league appearances.
"Jadon is a player that I really like to watch play and he is a great player with plenty of quality," Neymar stated, commending the 19-year-old.
"Borussia Dortmund is a team with plenty of quality players. They have a special player, who is new but who is very good whose name is Sancho.
"He is a good player. We all know how difficult it will be for us here at Dortmund. We are hoping to play a good game to get a good result back to Paris."
At the time, Sancho had been in fine form for Dortmund after leaving Manchester City following a lack of first-team action.
With interest from a slew of clubs, Dortmund slapped a £100 million price tag on Sancho, who repaid the compliment to Neymar by admitting that he modelled his flair-filled game on the former Barcelona superstar.
"My favourite player and role model is Neymar," he explained to Bild.
"He plays his opponents dizzy at the highest pace, and he is incredibly dangerous in front of goal.
"He's just different. He takes the mickey out of people. He's just being himself, he's expressing himself and I love that."
Sancho got his big move back to England in 2021, signing for Manchester United in a £73 million deal.
Sancho's England career hasn't gone to plan
Despite the promise, the winger has struggled to get going at Old Trafford and spent time on loan at former club Dortmund and Chelsea, who rejected the chance to sign him permanently.
Still surplus to requirements at United and placed in Ruben Amorim's bomb squad in the summer, Sancho was loaned out again to Aston Villa, who are said to be paying 80% of his wages on top of a loan fee.
On the international stage, Sancho made his England debut in October 2018 and was part of the squad which reached the Euro 2020 final.
Capped 23 times, he missed out on the last two tournament squads. Sancho has not featured for England since 2021 and does not appear to be in Thomas Tuchel's plans for the 2026 World Cup.
Topics: Neymar, Manchester United, England
Josh Lawless