Neymar was reportedly willing to fork out his own money in order to secure an exit from Paris Saint-Germain this summer to return to Barcelona.
As noted by The Express, the 27-year-old was long linked with a second spell with the Catalan giants this summer and had been pushing for a move.
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However, the deadline passed on Monday with no such exit materialising, and so he will remain a PSG player until January at least, assuming the reigning La Liga champions are prepared to try again as early as the New Year.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Neymar was even prepared to take desperate action to try and get a deal agreed between the two clubs as it’s suggested that he was willing to pay €20m out of his own pocket to try and help them secure an agreement.
It’s noted that while PSG wanted €150m plus Ousmane Dembele, Ivan Rakitic and Jean-Clair Todibo in return for Neymar, they weren’t even willing to listen to Neymar’s proposal, and so in turn any hope of a return to Barcelona collapsed despite his best efforts.
Time will tell whether or not the French giants will be willing to open talks again next year, as having added Mauro Icardi to their attack before the deadline on Monday, they certainly have plenty of options in that department and will hope that the Argentine, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani can ensure they compete on multiple fronts this season.
As for Barca, coach Ernesto Valverde saw Antoine Griezmann arrive while Philippe Coutinho was shipped out. With that in mind, it could be argued that he’ll be content with the options at his disposal regardless of the failure to land Neymar.
