Former Agent: Real Madrid President Still Dreaming About Neymar
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez "dreams of signing Neymar," according to his former agent
GOAL - Sam France
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez still dreams of signing Neymar, according to the player’s former agent Wagner Ribeiro.
Perez wanted Neymar back when he was a youngster at Santos, though the Brazil star eventually "followed his heart" and opted to sign for their Clasico rivals Barcelona.
Barca still want to bring Neymar back to Camp Nou from Paris Saint-Germain but the president of Mediapro, which is set to broadcast Ligue 1 matches next season, has said it is "impossible" that Barca could finance such a move.
Whether Madrid could afford to pull it off remains to be seen but, according to Ribeiro, Perez would love to try.
"Neymar wanted Barcelona [when he was at Santos]," Ribeiro told ESPN. "I tried hard to take him to Real Madrid, I brought three of Real Madrid’s directors to Sao Paulo.
"They spent 15 days in my office with Neymar’s father, with Neymar, trying to sign him. But in the end, Neymar followed his heart; he wanted to play for Barcelona.
"Florentino dreams of signing Neymar. Last year, in May, I went to Florentino's office and he told me he still has this dream."
Neymar spent four seasons with Barcelona, winning two league titles, three Copas del Rey and the Champions League in 2014-15.
Alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the historic ‘MSN’ partnership, Neymar scored 105 goals in 186 games in all competitions for the club.
He moved to PSG in a world-record deal in the summer of 2017 and, while the goals and titles have continued to flow, he has been continually linked with a return to Spanish football.
Barcelona tried hard to sign him last summer, with Neymar keen to make the switch before any possible deal collapsed as the Catalans failed to offload Ousmane Dembele.
All the signs point to Barca again attempting to take him back to Camp Nou when the transfer window opens, with Inter forward Lautaro Martinez also being targeted.
According to Goal, the Catalan club have also made initial enquiries with Timo Werner's representatives, although the RB Leipzig striker is seen as a back-up option, with Neymar and Lautaro at the top of their wishlist.
