World Cup Golden Boot Odds 2022: Neymar a tasty 20/1 with bet365
The first World Cup to take place in the middle of the European football season is just under six months away and as part of an early look at some of the betting odds ahead of Qatar 2022, Neil Monnery thinks he’s spotted a value play in the top goal scorer market…
World Cup 2022 Top Scorer Tips:
To lift the Golden Boot, players tend not only to be fantastic strikers but also they tend to play for a team that are going to go deep into the competition.
In 2018, Harry Kane scored six as England made it all the way to the semi-finals. Four years earlier it was one of those rare times when a player won despite only playing five games as Colombia's James Rodriguez led the way.
The early betting has Brazil as the 5/1 favourites to emerge victorious and their star striker Neymar is considered one of the top choices to lift the Golden Boot but one bookmaker seems to not be as convinced the 30 year-old PSG star is going to be in the running.
As of the time of writing, bet365 are offering a whopping 20/1 on Neymar to top the goal scoring charts at Qatar 2022. That makes him the seventh choice with the Stoke-on-Trent based firm, which seems utterly bonkers considering he’s found the back of the net 71 times for his country in just 117 appearances. To put it into context, BetVictor are offering 12/1 and Betfair/Paddy Power have him at 17/2 as of May 23.
A bad ankle injury tore the heart out of his 2021-22 domestic campaign but he still scored 13 times in 28 games. That was the first time since leaving Barcelona for PSG that he’s failed to score at better than a goal every two games across all competitions. He's been a machine when it comes to hitting the back of the net for years and if you asked most strikers, they would say their best years are between the age of 27 and 32. At 30, that means he should be in his absolute prime.
For Brazil, he’s only started once this calendar year but he did score and in 2021, he managed to notch up six goals in 13 games. If he’s fit then he’s likely to be one of the first names on the team sheet.
Our own Adam Roberts when looking at the World Cup Top Scorer Betting market last month wrote the following about Neymar:
Neymar continues to frustrate and delight in equal quantities at PSG. He has recently been getting booed by his own fans after this shock omission from the Champions League. He has a great record at international level however, and with no 1 ranked Brazil the favourites for the tournament, he could be a great value E/W bet.
It is hard to disagree with what he’s said but in addition, it should be noted that Neymar is Brazil’s primary penalty taker. In this VAR era, even more penalties are awarded so when playing this market, always look for a player who is more than capable from 12 yards.
Group G doesn’t include any poor teams so Brazil are unlikely to run up the score against the likes of Serbia, Switzerland or Cameroon but they are all teams you would expect the Canarinho to do extremely well against.
Neymar is not the favourite and nor should he be but I fancy him a lot more than the likes of Lukaku and Messi who are shorter prices with bet365. A fit and healthy Neymar is one of the best attackers on the planet and when you play for a side like Brazil who create as many attacking opportunities as they do, then that 20/1 screams value that won’t last.