Aside from Paul Pogba, Neymar’s potential departure from Paris Saint Germain this summer will be the most significant transfer around, should the deals happen.
The Brazilian seemingly wants to leave Paris and return to Barcelona, but the Ligue 1 champions don’t want the experiment with him to end just yet.
Sport cover the ongoing saga today, and it seems PSG director Leonardo is set to travel to China in the coming hours to try and sort everything out.
They report that he is planning to have several meetings, but Neymar is at the top of the list of people he wants to speak to. He intends to try and convince the player to stay at PSG for another year and snub Barcelona.
If he cannot do that, he will meet with PSG’s leaders and make a decision over what to do as his departure will mean the start of a new ‘sports project’.
Leonardo has been clear from the start that he wants to keep Neymar at PSG and even phoned him after he returned to the club to find out what the situation was. Neymar told him he wanted to leave, and Leonardo responded by fining him for turning up to training late.
Neymar met with the club to discuss that, and they told him he wouldn’t be sold. The Brazilian is continuing to push for a move, yet Leonardo is planning one last meeting to try and stop it happening.
Behind the scenes, though, he’s told the club that they should seek as good a deal as possible. Barcelona are looking to take advantage of that and believe Leonardo is the kind of man they can negotiate with.
He’s a former player and knows how bad it can be to have someone who doesn’t want to be there, so is looking for a deal that benefits PSG as much as possible.
It seems that everything hinges on the meeting in China. If Leonardo gets his way, there will be no move. If he’s unsuccessful, then Neymar to Barcelona is likely to pick up serious pace as the window nears a conclusion.
