Rumors about Neymar returning to Barcelona, the club he willingly left to be ‘out of Messi’s shadow’ have been flying around for a while now.
When Neymar was a rising star, playing at Santos in Brazil, he was approached by both Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. Florentino Perez was quite keen on signing Neymar but the then President of Santos, Marcelo Texaira advised Neymar to join Barcelona. And so, Neymar joined the Catalan club and was handed an opportunity to play with arguably the best footballer in the world, Lionel Messi. Neymar, Suarez and Messi, Barcelona’s front three had a fantastic run together. The MSN (Messi Suarez Neymar) scored 364 goals in 450 games in all competitions. They also shared 173 assists between the three of them during that period. Barcelona rejoiced with the treble (La Liga, Copa Del Ray and Champions League) in 2014–2015.
Time at Paris
Neymar’s move to PSG in 2017 for £198m created a huge ruckus.He scored 51 goals in 58 matches for PSG. Neymar had reportedly left the Catalan club to get out of Messi’s shadow. Nonetheless, one could say he landed under Mbappe’s shadow at PSG. Neymar got into a feud with Edison Cavani over a penalty. He wanted to establish his authority in Paris and become the leading man. But was it worth creating rifts with team mates? Clearly, Neymar wasn’t at PSG to make friends. Recurring injury problems also added to list of his discomforts at PSG.
Deals and Dilemmas
Now, Neymar and Barcelona both want Neymar to be back at Barcelona again. Allegedly, Messi has also asked the board at Barcelona to make it happen. Fans are getting restless. The Neymar craze at Barcelona is quite unnecessary given they purchased Antonio Griezmann and Dutch midfielder Frenki De Jong for the upcoming season. It could quite possibly be for the memories that Neymar created during his Barcelona days that still make the fans cry out for him. Fond memories which neither the fans, the players, the Barcelona board nor Neymar can get over but yet somehow Neymar chose to leave Barcelona to achieve more greatness.
After Barcelona’s season opener defeat against Athletic Bilbao, fans gathered in front of the team hotel shouting for Neymar to be brought back. If Neymar actually does arrive at Camp Nou again, Barcelona’s attack will be a dynamite. Neymar, Griezmann, Suarez and Messi would be a delight to watch. Barcelona is reportedly using very trick it has up its sleeves to reacquire Neymar. Since Barcelona already has an unfavorable bank balance due to the transfer of players like Griezmann and De Jong, it has offered two of its players along with the money for Neymar. Coutinho, Rakitic or Dembele are few of the players rumored to have been part of the Neymar exchange package. Regular talks have been going on between PSG and Barcelona but it is yet to produce any fruitful results. Coutinho leaving for German giants Bayern Munich has made Neymar’s transfer difficult. The exchange package doesn’t have as much weight as it did before. Dembele, another prospective Barcelona player for exchange will be out for the first 4–5 matches of the season too due to injury.
Not the regular Clasico talk
‘Un Clasico Pour Neymar’ — read L’Equipe’s headline. The Spanish phrase translates to ‘A Neymar Clasico’. Real Madrid and Barcelona, the arch rivals are both interested in signing Neymar. Some believe that Neymar is only pretending to consider Real Madrid so that Barcelona makes a move. Not being able to sign a player is one thing and losing out on the player signing to Real Madrid is another. The latter is unacceptable for Barcelona. Real chief Perez may have a soft corner for Neymar and his obsession with ultra-star players may push him toward signing Neymar but Zidane has not put forward any such demand. According to sources, Zidane is more interested in buying Paul Pogba from Manchester United. Additionally, Neymar wouldn’t want to risk the wrath of the Barcelona fans by joining Real Madrid.
Juventus is said to have also joined the race for Neymar. Juventus is willing to trade Dybala for him along with a significant amount of money, of course. If Neymar does move to Juventus, he will find himself overshadowed by Ronaldo. It won’t be an ideal situation for Neymar.
To be continued
“We need to respect players that play for other clubs. He (Neymar) belongs to PSG right now so, no, I have nothing to comment on right now.”- said Barcelona’s head coach Ernesto Valverde at pre match press conference before La Liga kicked off on 16th August.
PSG wants to make future plans without Neymar. The fans at Paris do not have any special predilection for Neymar. A considerable number of fans are annoyed at Neymar for openly reveling about PSG’s 6–1 defeat to Barcelona in the 2016–17 Champions League. It was the second leg of Round of 16. PSG had won the first leg 4–0. Barcelona made a phenomenal comeback netting 6 goals with 2 from Neymar himself. Barcelona made it to the next round.
It will be best for both PSG and Neymar if he leaves but until Barcelona can strike a deal acceptable to all parties, Neymar will have to reside in Paris and PSG has to make the best use of it. We will find out how this tug of war ends as September begins.