Madrid: Barcelona officials headed Tuesday to France for talks with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) to seal a return to the Spanish club for Brazilian star Neymar, reports here said.
The club’s director for football, retired French international Eric Abidal, and two other top club officials flew to Paris to meet with their PSG counterparts, Catalan radio ‘Rac1’ and Catalan television ‘TV3’ reported.
“The breakthrough is significant as PSG had up until now refused to meet with Barcelona emissaries but it does not mean that the deal is close,” ‘Rac1’ wrote on its website. The deal which the Barcelona officials will propose could include other players such as Philippe Coutinho or Ivan Rakitic. Barcelona may be giving up on one of the two for Neymar.
PSG had earlier revealed Saturday that Neymar transfer talks are ‘more advanced than before’ after the Brazilian was dropped for the French champions’ opening Ligue 1 match.
Sporting director Leonardo confirmed to reporters that the Brazilian was near the exit door but that PSG were ‘not yet ready to give their approval’ for the transfer.
Real Madrid or a return to Barcelona are the most likely destinations for the world’s most expensive footballer, who won two La Liga titles and the 2015 Champions League in four years with the Catalan side.
Sports newspaper ‘AS’ has reported that Neymar has been offered to Real Madrid by PSG, who are open to selling if they can either recoup the 222 million euros ($249 million) they spent on him in 2017 or receive half that amount with players included in the deal.
AFP