Football
Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent 8y

Barcelona's Neymar held meetings with PSG over summer move - agent

One of Neymar's agents has claimed that the Brazilian held two meetings with Paris Saint-Germain in the summer before eventually agreeing to extend his contract with Barcelona.

Neymar, 24, penned a new five-year deal at the beginning of July with Barca, but Wagner Ribeiro says his client could have earned much more money if he had left for the French capital.

According to Ribeiro, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi met with the player and his father in Ibiza at the beginning of June and again in Brazil later that same month.

"It was me that brought Nasser to Sao Paulo," he said in an interview with ESPN Brasil. "I told Neymar that the offer was out of this world; that he'd become the best-paid player in the world and that no player would be earning more than him.

"[PSG] were willing to pay [the €190 million release clause] and then he would have earned €40m a year after tax. We were talking for two hours and Neymar was enthusiastic. Nasser explained that there would be no tax issues at PSG and that he'd be the No. 1 in the team, which isn't the case at Barca."

On top of the huge salary, Ribeiro also claims that Al-Khelaifi offered Neymar a private jet to travel to Brazil games and a share in a new chain of hotels that would bear his name -- similar to Cristiano Ronaldo's venture.

However, Neymar, whose career is overseen more by his father than any of his agents, was keen to remain at Barcelona, although he appreciated the effort made by the Ligue 1 champions.

"If Ney stayed it is because he wants to be at Barcelona, he's happy at the club and in the city," Ribeiro said. "I wanted him to go to PSG, but his father preferred that he stayed.

"[If he left] it would have been for PSG, because their president spoke directly with him, something which, for example, neither [Real Madrid president] Florentino [Perez] nor Manchester United did."

Ribeiro has made similar claims about PSG's interest before, but they have always been rebuked by the club.

Speaking to L'Equipe, an unnamed PSG source previously insisted there was no truth in Wagner's stories

"It's totally false," the source said. "With employer contributions on top, that salary would have cost more than €60m a year. It's obscene. Neymar used us to strengthen his hand with Barcelona."

The sports daily added, however, that PSG's deputy sporting director Olivier Letang had gone to Brazil at the end of June to meet Neymar's entourage.

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