by Tim Stannard

Jordi Mestre, ex-sporting director of Barcelona, reveals Neymar's tearful pleas to return to Barcelona 

It's whack-a-mole at Barcelona in terms of dealing with chatterbox staff spouting off to the press. 

Last week saw the club having to deal with the current sporting director, Eric Abidal, upsetting Lionel Messi in an interview concerning the departure of Ernesto Valverde. 

On Tuesday, it's a former sporting director talking about the exit of a megastar of the past and potentially of the future - Neymar.

Jordi Mestre resigned his role at Barcelona in July 2019 having been sporting director of the club since 2014 and oversaw a heck of a lot of drama at the Camp Nou. Talking to Mundo Deportivo, Mestre has reflected at the biggest tale of them all - Neymar removing himself from his Barcelona contract in 2017 and heading to PSG...and apparently wishing he hadn't. 

"Nobody knew he would leave as he told absolutely noone at the club," recalled Mestre, "but after, he began to cry with regret and let us know he wanted to come back."

However, if Mestre was still at the big table at Barcelona then the former sporting director would make that return fairly impossible, judging by the enormity of Neymar's ego and significant sense of entitlement. "If he came back he would have to do an act of contrition," mused Mestre in fantasyland, "withdraw his lawsuit against the club, apologize, accept his mistake and of course live the life of a monk"

Good luck with all that. 

PSG are back in action on Wednesday at 12:30PM in the quarterfinals of the French Cup in a clash against Dijon that is live on beIN SPORTS.

Juventus feeling Sarri for themselves in Pep swoop 

Another Barcelona ghost is haunting the headlines on Tuesday - Pep Guardiola. 

In a feat of tremendous summer speculation in a horribly slow news week, the rumor mill has the Manchester City coach moving to Juventus this summer. 

Apparently Juve have buyers remorse over current coach, Maurizio Sarri, and The Sun says that the club's president, Andrea Agnelli, feels that Guardiola is the man to deliver the Champions League title to the club. 

This is despite the fact that Guardiola has not lead a team to the Champions League title since Barcelona in 2011.  

The Italian press is reporting that Maurizio Sarri had dinner with Andrea Agnelli after Juve's weekend loss to Hellas Verona and ahead of a huge Coppa Italia clash with Milan on Thursday to try and explain himself. 

Speaking of cups, the Copa Libertadores returns to beIN SPORTS on Tuesday. 

The tournament is now in the second qualifying round, second leg stage. Stand-out clash of the night sees Internacional taking on Universidad de Chile with the tie balanced nicely at 0-0. That game gets underway on beIN SPORTS XTRA at 5:15PM ET and you can watch it with no subscription, no strings, no fee, just on us. This is how. However, there is a ton of action across the network. 

Klinsmann leaves Hertha Berlin after 10 weeks in charge 

While the immediate future of Maurizio Sarri is still up in the air, that's not the case for the former USMNT coach, Jurgen Klinsmann. 

Tuesday morning saw the German leaving his role as manager of the Bundesliga club, Hertha Berlin, after just 76 days in charge. The capital city club were in relegation trouble when Klinsmann took over in November and remain in relegation trouble in 14th spot, six points from the dropzone having spent upwards of $80 million in the transfer market. 

In a message communicated through the medium of social media, Klinsmann hinted at issues with the club's upper management as the reason for his resignation writing that "I need the trust of all those involved" in order to avoid relegation. 

"We were surprised by the developments" admitted Hertha Berlin's sporting executive, Michael Preetz in response to Klinsmann's decision. 

The Sports Burst live show will ponder this and everything else going on in the world today. Just head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page, Youtube channel or beIN XTRA at 12PM ET.