If Robinho sounded almost exasperated last summer when he waded into the hype surrounding the latest Brazilian wunderkind, Neymar, it is understandable. Robinho should know better than most. He appreciates how it feels to be feted to the heavens, to be compared endlessly to Pelé, to be coveted by Europe's wealthiest suitors while those at home in Brazil clamour for you to stick around. Studied, scouted, analysed, pored over, pulled this way and that while still in his teens, Neymar's story this weekend goes under the footballing microscope in a newly sharpened way when he gets the chance to share a pitch with Lionel Messi. Yet more overblown judgments are inevitable.

It is the way of globalised football these days. It cannot be escaped. This subplot has rumbled along throughout the Club World Cup this week – the prospect of Barcelona meeting Santos in Sunday's final, and the chance to see how Neymar measures up against the most outstanding of barometers. Naturally, the Santos coach, Muricy Ramalho, has been quizzed about how his prodigy compares to Messi. "Before long he'll be the best in the world," Ramalho said. "The two are similar, but Neymar is a bit more special. His style alternates the direction of the ball as he carries it, while Messi dribbles more in a straight line. Neymar is unpredictable. You don't find anyone in the world who does what he can with the ball."

You can imagine Robinho would feel like throwing a dampener over such a statement, as he did when he gave an opinion on Neymar's "new Pelé" tag. "Every young, black player who appears at Santos is called Pelé, but people need to know how to differentiate that, because Pelé was a myth. There has not been anyone similar to Pelé nor will there be one. Another Pelé will not be born," Robinho told Globoesporte. "Each player needs to make their own history. Neymar is already making his very well." The message is clear enough: leave him be. Let him follow his own journey. Robinho has a striking CV, adorned by Real Madrid, Manchester City and Milan, but there have been awkward spells, and it remains a subject for debate as to whether he has scaled the heights expected of him at Neymar's age. Robinho is 27 now, and is finally at a point where he looks as settled and important to any team, outside of Santos.

What is interesting about Neymar's career path is how the shifting economic sands have made it possible for him, and his management, to resist the pull of Europe.

The 19-year-old was heavily linked with moves to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea, and was an obvious target for Manchester City. But last month he agreed a new deal which keeps him at Santos until the World Cup comes to Brazil in 2014. Significantly, he is being paid a salary possibly even heftier than what he might garner from a European superpower.

It became an issue of national importance and Neymar's club came up with an imaginative way to fund the deal by enlisting contributions from major corporations, who seemed only to happy too chip in.

There is something symbolic about keeping hold of their shiniest star for the buildup to the World Cup, about blocking the current that took players such as Robinho and Ronaldinho away from Brazil by the age of 21. The boy with the punkish haircut and the swagger in his boots does not sound too regretful about staying close to his friends and family (he recently became a father) for the foreseeable future.

It will be interesting to see if the club can pull a similar trick for their playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso, whom some rate as an even more appealing, albeit less showy, target for Europe. He is reportedly going to examine his options after this Japanese sojourn. Santos are in ambitious mood, though. So much so that their president, Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro, has dreamed up a complicated plan to try to get Robinho back on loan for next year, the club's centenary.

Neymar demonstrated his charismatic style in the semi-final of the Club World Cup on Wednesday with a goal that reflected why he commands such attention. Receiving a pass from a team-mate with his back to goal, he swivelled, dropped a shoulder, nudged the ball past a befuddled defender to breeze into space, then switched feet to bend his shot in from long range. "I was going to shoot at first, but then I saw the defender coming in too fast, so I changed. I improvised at the end," he said. Easy as pie.

Santos scored three sumptuous goals to see off Kashiwa Reysol, all from outside the penalty area, all finessed with plenty of Brazilian swerve. But it was no pushover, and they had to resist periods of Japanese pressure to make sure of their date with Barcelona. Ramalho, who by nature does not have the most expansive of coaching philosophies, conceded they needed to improve to make an impression on the European champions. Santos won the Copa Libertadores in June, but 10th place in the Brazilian championship suggests they have not been particularly focused this year.

"This tournament is very important for me and my team-mates and we want to win this tournament very much," said Neymar, the Brazilian league's player of the year. If they manage it against Barcelona, emulating the Santos of old who won the Intercontinental Cup in the 1960s with the help of Pelé, the hype machine will surely flick into overdrive.