Neymar offers services to Real Madrid as Barça hopes falter
MD says he is beginnning to see that a Barcelona return will be tricky to get over the line, and has offered his services to other clubs.
The Neymar transfer saga has taken a fresh twist. The Brazil international remains determined to leave Paris Saint-Germain, with a return to Barcelona still his first choice. However, he is beginning to appreciate the difficulty of such a transfer coming about and, according to Mundo Deportivo, has made initial moves to offer his services to Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
Neymar's camp have come to the realisation that a deal between PSG and Barça looks unlikely, not least because of the well-documented antipathy that exists between the two clubs, who have in recent years clashed over transfer matters relating not only to the Brazilian, but also several other players. Barça have more than once been left frustrated in bids to sign PSG's Thiago Silva and Marquinhos, and have also endured failed pursuits of Ángel di María, Marco Verratti and Adrien Rabiot, with the latter two both angering the Paris club by agitating for moves. As a result, the conditions are hardly ideal for smooth negotiations.
PSG not interested in part-exchange deal for Neymar
On top of that, money is a problem for Barça. Having already bought Frenkie de Jong for 71m euros and Antoine Griezmann for 120m, the Blaugrana are busy looking for other approaches to the transfer, with players included in the deal as makeweights. Yesterday, AS revealed details of an offer of 40m euros plus Ousmane Dembélé and Philippe Coutinho; today, L'Équipe has also reported that such a bid is on the table, albeit with Ivan Rakitic, not Dembélé, going the other way in part exchange.
PSG are not convinced by a players-plus-cash offer in the slightest. If they are to accept an approach for Neymar, they only want money - and lots of it. The Ligue 1 champions' president, Nasser Al Khelaifi, wants at the very least to recoup the 222m euros that they paid to sign the forward from Barça in 2017, in a move that left relations between the two clubs well and truly on the rocks.
Madrid, Juve, Bayern and United all seem unlikely moves
Against this backrop, Neymar has set about seeking out alternative destinations. However, they won't be straightforward, either. While Madrid chief Florentino Pérez is a long-term admirer, many of Los Blancos' fans do not want him. Bayern may be in need of wingers, but don't tend to go for such wild transfer-market splashes. Juve already have a superstar in Cristiano Ronaldo and have just dug deep to purchase Matthijs de Ligt, while at United he would not get Champions League football next term.