L'Equipe/BBC reported that Man United agreed terms to sign Neymar last summer and were set to pay his €190m clause but Neymar pulled out.

They could make a move for Greaseman, I guess. He has a release clause after all, so it's not like Atlético could ask for an overprice.

I know he said he wouldn't abandon his club whle the transfer ban lasts, but if Barça offers him a huge wage I think he might reconsider. He'd also be able to stay in Spain, which he always said he would rather do.

Barça are mostly linked to Coutinho and Dybala now though. Let's see what happens...

good, no need to pay rise him every 6 months for 1.5-2 years until he inevitably went to P$G anyway, or Madrid

greaseman lol ^^

Back in time when Neymar joined Barcelona, the prices were pretty "normal" if you compare them to now.
I still think Barca did not expect that anyone is going to pay 222m else they would have put it higher

Neymar was part of the beginning of this overpirce craze. Barça paid over 90M€ for him, a brazilian 20 year old that had never played in Europe and could very well be Robinho 2.0.

well the issue that Neymar's widely reported initial price was much lower, like 57M euros and then the sordid additional fee details were leaked some time later, making it rise each time (unlike how Cristiano's fee was straight 94M euros from United to Madrid and was always reported that way). so it made Neymar seem cheaper than he actually was.

this is an interesting article on the leadup to his pending transfer to P$G - i find the section about the famous comeback against P$G and the media making it all about Messi interesting.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/aug/02/neymar-psg-barcelona-lionel-messi


e: in other news

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/aug/02/everton-gylfi-sigurdsson-swansea-midfielder-callum-connolly-paul-clement

1 NeYmaR or 4 Sigurdssons hmmm

This post was edited by excellence on Aug 2 2017 12:17pm

must indeed have been frustrating, neymar was the hero of that night and everyone celebrated messi

Well, I said when Barça appointed Valverde that, despite him being a good coach, I think he wouldn't succeed because he wouldn't be able to handle the ego tensions. I was of course assuming Neymar would stay, and in that assumptions I was certain that it would only be a matter of time before a shitstorm went down in the dressing room between Neymar and Messi. Neymar doesn't like being the sidekick. He's not like Suárez, Iniesta or whoever else... his ambition is to be the star of the show and win Ballon d'Ors. This is impossible in a club that worships Messi, and that night against PSG was solid proof of it... Messi did jack shit and got all the praise, while MOTM Neymar got nothing but a pat in the back.

if you put it like that then valverde isnt exactly sad right now