“I Spoke A Lot With Neymar And He Wanted To Return To Barcelona”

Written By Onyeka Daniel

When French giant, Paris Saint-Germain triggered the release clause of Brazilian forward, Neymar Junior at Barcelona in 2017, not many at the club expected it and the push from the playing to make the transfer happen wasn’t expected either, but in the end, he did join the Parisians for a world record fee at that time.

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Then in 2020, Neymar told PSG of his desire to return to Catalonia and despite pressure from the player and his representatives, no deal materialised and the player extended his contract to remain in Paris.

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Since then, he hasn’t had a smooth relationship with the club, with a series of contract renewals triggered by the 30-year-old, despite his previous intention to leave. The latest being in June this year when the club were looking to offload him.

His former Brazil teammate Kaka has spoken about how the deal broke down as Neymar’s refocus at PSG has revived his career in recent months. “We’re close friends. I spoke a lot with Neymar and of course he had a bad time at PSG the year he wanted to return to Barcelona”, he said in a recent interview.

“Today he’s happy. He thinks about the long-term project at PSG. “Year after year the team gets stronger, they’re building more cohesion to win something really important like the Champions League, and he’s happy in Paris and at PSG.” He further added.

Perhaps, it’s the Neymar situation at Barcelona that has forced clubs in the Spanish League to start placing high fees on their important players, as it serves as a form of deterrence against any club looking to snap their player against their will.

This season, he has started really strongly for PSG, under the guidance of new coach, Christophe Galtier, with an impressive record of nine goals and eight assists in the French League and the UCL despite talks of a fractured relationship between him and Kylian Mbappe.

Meanwhile…

Barcelona sporting director, Mateu Alemany, has confirmed an agreement has finally been reached for Antoine Griezmann to move to Atletico Madrid permanently.

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“It has been closed this week and I think that, in my opinion, it has been important because we took away an important salary,” he said.

The purchase option in Griezmann’s two-year loan deal was reportedly set at €40 million but it’s thought the forward will go to Atletico for half that amount.

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(Diario AS)