Neymar wants Barcelona return, says club’s vice-president
Brazilian superstar Neymar wants to return to Barcelona two years after quitting the club to join Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona's vice-president said yesterday.
"What is correct, at the current time, what I have read, what I have heard, which seems exact, is that Neymar wants to come back to Barcelona," Jordi Cardoner told a press conference at the Nou Camp.
But he stressed that Barcelona had made no contact with the world's most expensive footballer, who joined the French champions for 222 million euros (S$342m).
The Spanish giants acknowledged Neymar's interest in returning to Barcelona but said there was no recruitment effort on their part to re-sign him.
"To say that Barça are working on recruiting Neymar, that is something I cannot agree with," Cardoner said.
"For the moment all that is happening - and not only with Neymar - is that a number of players would like to play for a great club like Barcelona. We will see what happens in timely fashion.
"We are currently working on the phase of deciding which players we will not be keeping next season. We are recruiting no one at the moment..."
However, media reports indicated that intermediaries between PSG and Barca had hammered out the terms of the deal, which would free the Brazilian star to return to Barcelona this summer.
According to other Spanish media reports this week, Neymar has offered to take a pay cut of 12m euros a year - from the 36m euros at PSG to the 24m euros he received at Barca before he left in 2017 - to return to the club and Barca have reached a "verbal agreement" to take him back. - AFP
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