(Paris Saint-Germain)
For a good two years the Brazilian has
been driven by twin obsessions: to break
free from what he sees as his PSG chains
and rejoin Barcelona, where he starred
from 2013 to 2017.
Will it eventually happen? Well, on
the face of it, the 28-year-old has good
reason to be optimistic.
Barca main man Lionel Messi
and several other first-team senators
continue to vociferously lobby for
his return, while the consensus in
the Blaugrana corridors of power
is that his return would be beneficial
in both helping to defuse the ticking,
toxic time bomb at the club and to
put in place the best guarantee for
a successful post-Messi future.
As a key member of the last
Barcelona side to win the Champions
League, in 2015, Neymar has a great
deal of pulling power. He may be injury
prone but the hope at Camp Nou is that
turning back the clock will give everyone
a lift, not least the ex-Santos virtuoso.
To be frank, PSG would be happy to
see him go. They are sick and tired of
his diva-like antics and feel he has not
shown the club sufficient respect, banking
a salary of €48.9million yet rarely with a
good word for the Parc des Princes outfit.
He and PSG’s director of sport,
Leonardo, do not enjoy the best
of working
relationships
and the
pair recently
clashed once
more, withthe player accusing the club of playing
him too sparingly prior to the round-
of-16 Champions League game against
Borussia Dortmund.
According to those in the know,
PSG value Neymar in the €180m-
€200m bracket. However, the big
question is can Barca afford him? After
all, only last summer, they needed a loan
to trigger Antoine Griezmann’s €12 0 m
release from Atletico Madrid.
To drum up the funds for a deal, club
president Josep Maria Bartomeu would
have to sell. And that may mean listening
to offers for hit-or-miss French winger
Ousmane Dembele and possibly even
Griezmann, who has rarely lit up Catalonia
and has relatively few supporters in an
often complicated dressing room.
Nick BidwellNEYMAR
PSG would be happy to see
him go. They are sick and
tired of his diva-like anticsMOST WANTED