FC Barcelona Negotiate Neymar Signing With Paris Saint-Germain

FC Barcelona are negotiating with Paris-Saint Germain in relation to possibly signing former player Neymar according to multiple reports in Qatar.

Neymar famously joined Barca from boyhood club Santos in 2013. Sealing an impressive treble under Luis Enrique at the close of the 2014/2015 season, the Brazilian fled to the French capital in the summer of 2017 after PSG smashed the world transfer record and activated his €222 million ($242 million) release clause.

Fast forward to 2024, and PSG wish to part ways with Neymar according to L’Equipe while set to see Lionel Messi walk to Inter Miami as a free agent when his contract expires on June 30.

Messi’s decision was similarly a loss for Barca, who yearned to be reunited with their greatest ever player. On the evening Messi told the paper and its main rival Mundo Deportivo he would be heading to the MLS, SPORT reported Neymar had been “offered” to the Catalans.

Barca head coach and former teammate Xavi Hernandez defused rumors of a possible move by saying to Gerard Romero it was “a surprise that his name has come up”.

“In theory Neymar is not in our plans. I like him a lot, but we have different priorities,” Xavi added.

Less than a fortnight since those remarks, however, reports are starting to emerge out of Qatar – where PSG’s owners hail from – that Barca are indeed in talks with Neymar’s club.

Popular Qatari journalist Mabkhout Al-Marri – described as the first to reveal Messi was set to join Miami – reported how there is a “super player who many wish would come to Barcelona and some are upset with him.”

“The player is very close to Barcelona. There is a lot of talk between his club and Barcelona and there are some points remaining in the financial aspect,” Al-Marri continued, adding that the player “wants to play for Barcelona”.

At beIN Sport, Khaled Waleed, who was one of the leading voices on Barca president Joan Laporta’s trip to Qatar last week, asked on Twitter: “Did Neymar sign with Barcelona? No. Are there negotiations for Neymar? Yes.

“You may succeed or you may fail. But there are negotiations,” Waleed further stated.

Back in Catalonia, SPORT and Mundo Deportivo are yet to confirm whether there are talks between the Blaugrana and PSG or not.

One thing is for sure, Brazil’s all-time top scorer would have to take a significant pay cut to play at Camp Nou – or Montjuic Stadium next season – again.

On Forbes’ 2023 list of the World’s Highest-Paid Athletes, the 31-year-old finished 12th with earnings of $85 million.

In last year’s edition of Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players, he finished fourth with earnings of $87 million – $55 million of which came on-field.

During times of attempting to return to the 1:1 rule and struggling to balance Financial Fair Play Limits, these figures are well beyond the reach of cash-strapped Barca.