LONDON. Brazilian star Neymar is the most marketable sportsperson in the world. The Santos striker has been placed ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi, Usain Bolt and Lewis Hamilton at the top of SportsPro magazine’s top 50 most marketable athletes. But why is a 21-year-old who has never played club football outside of Brazil or featured in a major international tournament considered more valuable than some of the greatest athletes across the sporting world?David Cushnan, SportsPro editor-in-chief, explains that there are three key reasons why Neymar, who also topped the list last year, earned his position.‘Essentially the crux of it is we are trying to predict marketing value over the next three years. We’re trying to forecast who is going to be worth investing from a sponsorship point of view but also who perhaps offers real value for money.‘Our feeling is that Neymar has the World Cup coming up next year, where he’s going to be the star at home, he’s a megastar in Brazil. ‘He still has this big move to come, probably to Barcelona, that will launch him to whole new level of fame. And there is no doubt that Messi is the more talented player but you can make the argument he is not particularly charismatic off the pitch, not animated or confident in front of the camera.Top 151. Neymar – football, Brazil2. Lionel Messi, football, Argentina3. Rory McIlroy, golf, UK4. Robert Griffin III, American football, USA5. Usain Bolt, athletics, Jamaica6. Novak Djokovic, tennis, Serbia7. Lewis Hamilton, Formula One, UK8. Cristiano Ronaldo, football, Portugal9. Sloane Stephens, tennis, USA10. Blake Griffin, basketball, USA11. Tiger Woods, golf, USA12. Sebastian Vettel, Formula One, Germany13. Virat Kohli, cricket, India14.  LeBron James, basketball, USA15. Victoria Azarenka, tennis, Belarus

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