This love of parties leads to the fact that for some reason only a few of the Brazilian top players can boast of sports longevity (to be honest, I can’t even remember who to name for example). And now we are seeing that Neymar (given all these patterns and trends) is actually ending a serious career. But he's only 31 lol! Maybe the Saudis think they just bought a top player who still has a couple of golden years ahead of him. But if Neymar behaves like a pre-pensioner, will they part amicably? Or will it be a shameful point in his career? Let's see.
The Saudi are the real party kings on this planet. There are some nice documentaries about how these guys can party. I guess I don't have to go into detail...
Since you guys opened up this topic, I am pretty sure that players like Neymar have their contract full of clauses and promises from the Saudi officials that they can literally do whatever they want for as long as things don't happen on a public street and officials would be forced to intervene. Neymar has called it a day many years ago.
But I am afraid that you are right with the term "pattern". More and more highly talented young players are making choices that they wouldn't have made two decades ago. The thrive for the best club to become the best and most recognized sportsman has now shifted towards a competition of who is going to be the most expensive and best paid player.
In the case of Neymar, just look at Messi and at what age he won the World Cup title that he deserved so much. But he worked much harder and more consistently for it than Neymar. Mbappe is the next on the list who is on his best way to waste a career, but he is French and won the World Cup, maybe that is some comfort to him.
Mbappe has already lost some of his golden years at PSG, but he is still young and he can turn things around. In addition, he already has an amount of money that is difficult to count, and in general he has everything except satisfying his ambitions. Mbappe looks much more focused on football than Neymar and I don't fear for his career in that sense.