Barcelona will be alerted by Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Leonardo’s latest comments, as he has conceded Neymar can leave if a suitable offer is made.
As noted by the Evening Standard, speculation continues to link the Brazilian superstar with a return to Barcelona after his exit in 2017.
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The 27-year-old has gone on to score 51 goals in 58 games for the reigning Ligue 1 champions, but speculation remains rife over his future and a possible second stint with the Catalan giants.
Speaking in a lengthy interview with Le Parisien, Leonardo addressed various rumours but was consistently pressed on the latest with Neymar, and he conceded that ultimately if the right offer is made, Neymar can leave, although after initial talks with Barcelona, it hasn’t progressed anywhere near agreeing to a sale.
“Neymar can leave PSG, if there is an offer that suits everyone,” Leonardo told Le Parisien. “But to date, we do not know if anyone wants to buy him or at what price. All this is not done in a day, that’s for sure.
“It’s clear to everyone [that Neymar wants to leave], but in football, you say one thing today and tomorrow another. It’s amazing but it’s like that.
“One thing is concrete today: he still has three years of contract with us and since we have not received an offer, we cannot discuss anything.
“PSG wants to rely on players who want to stay and build something big. We do not need players who would do a favour for the club by staying here.
“We have not received any offers. But we had, it’s true, very superficial contacts [with Barcelona]. They said they wanted to buy but we were not sellers.”
That seemingly suggests that PSG will listen to suitable offers, and so the onus switches to Barcelona now to make a bid that will convince their European rivals to sell their talisman back to them, assuming that they are genuinely set on securing a reunion.
Time will tell if the reigning Spanish champions even have the resources to make that happen, as with BBC Sport noting that they’ve already splashed out a whopping €75m+ on Frenkie de Jong from Ajax this summer, it’s unclear as to how much of the summer transfer budget remains.
