French Ligue 1 side, Paris Saint-Germain may as well be the Brazil national team in the Diaspora. With Neymar being the latest, the club now has five members, almost half of a starting line-up for the five-time World Cup holders.

Neymar is teaming up with Lucas, Thiago Silva, Dani Alves and Marquinhos in forming a sublime Brazilian five-a-side squad. The bond between Brazil and the French club did not just start.

There have been many other top Brazilian players in the past who have featured for PSG as if the club has a magnetic pull on them. In the early 1970s, a certain Joel Camargo became the first Brazilian player to feature for PSG.

He featured for the club from 1971 to 1972. Like Neymar, he had his roots in Santos of Brazil, the same club the legendary Pele played for. Carmego’s stay in PSG was just a year as the career was cut short by car accident. He joined PSG shortly after he was a member of the 1970 World Cup and played only twice for PSG before the accident.

According to information garnered from FIFA, after Camargo returned to Brazil, he slowly dropped out of limelight though his former club, Santos paid a stirring tribute to him on November 11, 2006. He died May 2014, just few weeks before his country hosted the World Cup.

The next Brazilian national team player at PSG was Valdo who featured for the club from 1991 to 1995.

The early 1990s proved to be a new era for PSG, who made their ambitions clear by signing Valdo from Benfica, where he had enjoyed three fine seasons. A gifted playmaker who represented his country at two FIFA World Cups (Mexico 1986 and Italy 1990), Valdo lit up PSG for four seasons before returning to the Portuguese giants.

Next was Ricardo who also joined from Portugal’s Benfica at the same time with Valdo. Ricardo also spent four highly productive seasons in Paris before moving back with his compatriot to the club from the Portuguese capital.

The defender, who captained Brazil at Italy 1990, returned to the Parisians to begin a successful coaching career in 1996, this after retiring as a player due to repeated injury problems.

In 1993, Rai, another Brazilian international joined PSG in 1993 and played till 1998. He was already a star by the time he arrived in Paris in 1993. A captain for his country and a playmaker in Tele Santana’s great Sao Paulo side, he nevertheless enjoyed a testing first season in the French capital, while also relinquishing his national team skipper’s armband and place in the starting line-up as Brazil conquered the world at USA 1994. He made up for those setbacks the following season, delighting the PSG fans by showcasing his class and intelligence.

Leonardo arrived in Paris the day after the club’s UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup triumph, having been signed to replace the Inter Milan-bound Youri Djorkaeff.

Aside from the opportunity to join his friend Rai, the 1994 World Cup winner was also keen to get acquainted with France in the lead-up to the next world finals. The left-sided player settled in immediately, striking up a productive partnership with his compatriot.

The experience proved to be a short one, however, with Leonardo moving to AC Milan after just one season. He returned to Paris in 2011, this time as a director of football, helping to take the club to a new level by signing global stars of the calibre of Thiago Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckham.

Before the current generation, the last Brazilian in PSG was Ronaldinho who played 97 times for the club from 2001 to 2003. He scored 33 goals for the Parisian side. Ronaldinho signed for Barcelona, where, in moving in the opposite direction to Neymar 14 years later, he would give free rein to his considerable talent.