THE boy from the Central West with the now iconic mullet versus the world's most expensive footballer on a pitch in China.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Come Tuesday night at Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in China, former Bathurst '75-Western talent and now Sydney FC defender Rhyan Grant could find himself locked in battle with renowned striker Neymar.
Grant faces that prospect as he and and his Sydney FC team-mates will face French giants Paris Saint Germain in a pre-season friendly.
PSG is the club which paid a record 222 million Euro transfer fee for Brazilian superstar Neymar in 2017.
The man who in the main plays on the left wing, boasts 97 caps for Brazil and has scored 60 international goals. He has been named international footballer of the year (2011), has won an Olympic gold medal, has played in a victorious Champions League outfit and participated in two World Cups.
In contrast Grant, who has five Socceroos caps, is estimated to have a current market value of 800 Euro.
While it is no certainty that Neymar and Grant will share the same pitch - the PSG star did not line up in Saturday's friendly against Inter Milan even though he has declared himself 100 percent fit - the man who honed his skills in the Central West is still excited at the prospect.
"It would be a good challenge, he's one of the best in the world and one of the most skilful, so it would be good to see how I go against him," 28-year-old Grant said.
"His talent is out of this world.
"It would be good to come up against a player of his calibre and all I can do is try my best and see where I stand.
READ ALSO: Lithgow Workies upset Bathurst Panthers
"I'm not expecting too much from myself, but it would be nice to be on the same pitch as him and some of the other players too - they are all world class players.
"To share a pitch with them and see how we go out against them is going to be interesting, but quite fun too I suppose."
Amongst the other PSG talents Grant could share a pitch with are Spanish internationals Ander Herrera and Pablo Sarabia and French star Kylian Mbappé.
Grant knows it will be a huge test for himself and his Sydney FC team-mates, but he is looking forward to the challenge.
"Obviously it's someone we wouldn't normally come up against, I suppose it will be a good experience for us and something we are looking forward to," he said.
"Obviously we are going to go there and give it our best crack, we know how good they are and what sort of class they are in.
"But we are going to go there and do everything we can to try and play well and put on a show and see what happens from there."
The match is set to kick-off at 10pm AEST on Tuesday.