World Cup 2014: Stats that say Neymar will top score

Neymar has scored 31 Brazil goals at the age of 22

Michael Lintorn unveils numerous trends and statistics indicating that Neymar will be the World Cup top goalscorer...

Neymar's first season since joining Barcelona for a fiercely-disputed sum believed to have been in excess of 71 million has widely been discredited as a flop.

It is a harsh interpretation given that he scored 15 goals from a wide position in an underperforming side in his first campaign since leaving long-term employers Santos for a demanding club thousands of miles away, burdened by intense expectation, the distracting transfer-fee drama and injuries.

However, throughout that saga, the 22-year-old continued to deliver for Brazil under even greater pressure and is a 13.012/1 second favourite to definitively prove that his hype is justified by emerging as the World Cup top goalscorer. There are plenty of reasons to be seduced by such a price.

The first is simply how impressive his international figures are, with his latest effort in the 4-0 friendly victory over Panama taking him to 31 goals in 48 caps, and all that within four years of his debut.

The second is that his Brazil form has been particularly hot in the build-up to the World Cup, with 11 of those strikes coming in the last 12 months. Seven of his victims were nations that are heading to his homeland this summer, including Spain, Italy and Portugal.

The third pro-Neymar trend is that he has demonstrated his aptitude for tournament football with two goals at Copa America 2011, three at the Olympics and four at the Confederations Cup. The way that has improved with each competition, firing only one blank throughout the Confederations Cup, is equally encouraging.

By contrast, 9.28/1 favourite Lionel Messi failed to net at both World Cup 2010 and Copa America 2011 and injury-pestered 22.021/1 prospect Cristiano Ronaldo notched just once in the 2006 and 2010 editions.

The fourth case for backing Neymar is home advantage. At three of the last four World Cups where a host country had a strong chance of success, one of their guys topped the standings: Mario Kempes for Argentina in 1978, Salvatore Schillaci for Italy in 1990 and Miroslav Klose for Germany in 2010.

A further positive for the former Santos superstar is that Brazil have produced more outright World Cup top scorers than any other nation with three: Leonidas da Silva, Ademir and Ronaldo. Being a newcomer isn't a significant obstacle either, as Thomas Muller helped to show four years ago.

Recommended Bet: Back Neymar to be World Cup top goalscorer @ 13.012/1

Market Rules

Betfair's Golden Boot market will be settled on the player who scores the most goals throughout the tournament but should there be two or more players scoring the most goals then the winner will be the player deemed to have made the most assists. If players are still equal after goals and assists then the total number of minutes on the pitch will be decisive.

Betfair's separate Top Goalscorer market will be settled on the player who scores the most goals throughout the tournament. Should there be two or more players scoring the most goals then dead-head rules apply.