Water is wet. The sky is blue. And FC Barcelona desperately want Neymar Jr. back. Some things never change.
Coming off a 2-0 loss to Real Madrid in El Clásico, Barcelona is now using the Spanish media spark Neymar transfer rumors to deflect from their overall poor performance this season.
According to Sport and Mundo Deportivo, the Catalan club has made Neymar their number one transfer priority this summer and that a clause in FIFA’s “Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players” called the “Protected Period” would allow the governing body to use a formula to essentially set a “fair” price for the player. That figure is thought to be around €170-€180 million.
🔥 Neymar, Objetivo Nº1 https://t.co/Dz9zt3wwuI
— Diario SPORT (@sport) March 3, 2020
The reports highlight an “unsustainable” relationship between Neymar and PSG sporting director, Leonardo. The two did clash last summer when Neymar pushed for a move to Barcelona and recently, the 28-year-old was critical of the club for not playing him leading up to the first match against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League, a decision that was ultimately made by Leonardo.
All of this goes against what we’ve heard for most of the season. Neymar has been professional since returning to the squad after his failed transfer last summer and he’s made comments about wanting to be PSG’s captain. We’ve also heard from those around him that he would be open to a contract extension at PSG but it depends on how far the team goes in the Champions League.
If PSG advances past Dortmund and eventually reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, it’s hard to imagine that Neymar would want to leave. Also complicating a transfer to Barcelona is Neymar’s multiple lawsuits against the club for money he feels he’s owed.
Great players want to win and Neymar can do that at PSG with the squad that Leonardo has built. However, if PSG crashes out of the Champions League next week, you can absolutely expect the transfer rumors to heat up and there’s a very real possibility that this could be the last season of Neymar in Paris despite having a contract with PSG for two more years.
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PSG have amassed quite a few talented players but they have glaring problems in defense (Meunier, Dagba, Kehrer, Kimpembe, Kurjuwa aren’t good enough to play in the big UCL games). Moreover, the manager sometimes opts to play with four attackers compromising the defense and sometimes he decides to play without a proper no.9 in the big games. On top of that the formation used by Tuchel against Dortmund was unacceptable. These mismanagements & injuries of key players always lead to unsatisfactory performance by PSG in the UCL…So, Neymar loves Barca more as they have a distinct playing style and consistent strategy.