Paris Saint-Germain 'Leave Door Open' to Neymar Exit in Summer
By Tom Gott
The Neymar Express is back in town. The Brazilian has been linked with a move away from Paris Saint-Germain for what feels like an eternity, and it looks like that's set to continue as the French side are open to selling him this summer.
Almost ever since they lost him in 2017, Barcelona have been working to try and bring Neymar back to Camp Nou. Discussions were held for pretty much the entirety of last summer, but the two sides could not find an agreement.
Back then, Neymar's price tag was understood to be in excess of €200m, but according to ESPN's Julien Laurens, that has now dropped to €150m.
If Barcelona can find that kind of money, it is suggested that an agreement could be pretty easy to reach as PSG are preparing themselves for Neymar's departure already.
Like pretty much everyone on the entire planet, club director Leonardo does not want talks to drag on for the entire summer again, so he wants a deal to be reached almost as soon as the season comes to an end - whenever that may be.
It comes as a bit of a surprise to see PSG drop their asking price, given they signed him for €222m in 2017, but it is worth nothing that Neymar's contract will expire in 2022, meaning that his value will only ever decrease from this point onward.
It's thought that Barcelona still see signing Neymar as a priority, with Lionel Messi publicly begging La Blaugrana to get the deal over the line on a number of occasions.
Affording the deal won't be easy, but it is by no means beyond the realms of possibility. Offloading some unwanted players would raise that kind of money, but spending it all on Neymar might mean that none is left to pursue Inter's Lautaro Martínez, which is the deal that makes more sense.
Neymar is already 28 years old, and his history of attitude and fitness problems really shouldn't make him Barcelona's top target. We all saw him mock Erling Haaland on Instagram for something which the Norwegian didn't even do, which is just what you get from Neymar.
Instead, Barcelona should spend that money on 22-year-old Martínez, who looks capable of leading the line for the next ten years with minimal fuss.