Barcelona superstar rejected eye-watering £650,000-a-week contract with Catalan giants turning down £160m offer

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Barcelona forward Neymar was reportedly offered £650,000-a-week to sign for Paris Saint-Germain this summer, with a £160m transfer fee on the table too.

The 24-year-old has long been considered one of the top players in world football following his performances for the La Liga champions and Brazil.

However, these figures are ridiculous with his agent confirming the money on offer from the French giants.

While he has since signed a new five-year contract with Barca, turning down a £160m offer can’t have been easy for the Catalan outfit, while an annual salary of €40m (£33.8m), works out at £650,000-a-week.

“He was very close to PSG. He would have earned €40m a year, free,” his agent Wagner Ribeiro said, as noted by The Guardian.

“Neymar was also close to a move to Manchester United. But he renewed his contract for less money with Barcelona, because he wanted to stay in Barcelona.”

That desire to stay at Barca has now all-but ruled out an exit for the Brazilian international, as PSG would now have to stump up €200m to meet the release clause in his contract in the first year, before it rises to €222m in the second and €250m for the remaining three years.

Given the crazy numbers they were willing to offer this summer, according to Neymar’s agent, perhaps it might not be impossible in the years ahead if he continues to develop into the best player in the world.

However, as reported by L’Equipe, an unnamed PSG source has insisted that there is no truth in Ribeiro’s comments and that it was merely a ploy from Neymar to “strengthen his hand with Barcelona”.

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