The end of the transfer window is always an exciting period, and Neymar is ensuring this year is no different.
The Brazilian is desperately trying to get himself out of PSG and back to Barcelona, but so far the move has proven challenging to get off the ground.
Yesterday we covered reports his return to the Nou Camp may be off, with Barça struggling to finance the deal and meet PSG’s demands.
The two clubs will continue to work right up until the end of the window to try and get a deal done, though, with neither side giving up in what has become a high profile game of negotiating.
It remains to be seen if they can somehow find a compromise and PSG Sporting Director Leonardo has now put the ball firmly in Barcelona’s court.
“Our position has always been clear. They (Barcelona) always knew what we wanted,” L’Equipe report him saying in a press conference.
“We were open even to include players to do the operation. But we never had an agreement.
“It has always been said from the beginning that if a proposal arrives that satisfies us, he can leave. He has a contract with us.
“So far, there is no agreement. It is Barcelona that makes us a proposal, and we accept, or we do not accept. The truth is that there was no club that had the money to buy him (Neymar).
“So the condition of his departure was always related to having a substitute in (included in the offer) and maybe other players to supplement the amount we required.
“We were open to that. We tried to have players in the ‘nego’.”
At this point, there’s every chance Neymar ends up staying in Paris, which would not be an ideal situation for either party.
The Brazilian has made it clear he doesn’t want to be at the club anymore, and relations between him and the club have been deteriorating for some time.
And Leonardo has admitted the rapport between both parties is not the best it has been, but he and PSG have tried to fix it.
“He is an extraordinary player. As I said before, I had never met him before. With time, I appreciate how he is,” he added.
“I think he has lived many things. He is a very well known player; you have to live with him.
“After, it’s normal that we have a relationship to get the best of him.
“It is necessary, to tell the truth, today this relation is not the most quiet that is. Today, we have a relationship that is there, complicated; things happened, we try to solve them, to talk.
“We opened the possibility of his departure only to our conditions, which never arrived.”
Over to you, Barcelona.
