Barcelona make ‘ridiculous’ first offer for PSG’s Neymar

PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 19: Neymar Jrof Paris Saint-Germain celebrate his goal during the Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint Germain and EA Guingamp at Parc des Princes on January 19, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Xavier Laine/Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 19: Neymar Jrof Paris Saint-Germain celebrate his goal during the Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint Germain and EA Guingamp at Parc des Princes on January 19, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Xavier Laine/Getty Images)

FC Barcelona make an offer for Neymar that Paris Saint-Germain think is absolutely ridiculous.

Neymar has conveyed to Paris Saint-Germain of his intentions to leave the club. With coach Thomas Tuchel confirming this fact, everything seems to falling into place now for the Brazilian forward who wants a switch back to FC Barcelona and is waiting for them to officially submit an offer. The clubs have reportedly been in contact with each other regarding Neymar but not through the official channels.

AS reports that FC Barcelona has made an unofficial offer for PSG’s Neymar through middlemen representing both the clubs. Barcelona would pay €40 million plus Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho in exchange for Neymar. This offer however, has been dismissed as ‘ridiculous’ by Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. It is clear that the Qatari club would want to recover as much money as possible of the humongous €222 million that they had shelled out to activate Neymar’s release clause in 2017.

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The PSG president has also reportedly decided to not listen to any offers for Neymar that are below €300 million, something that seems off-limits for FC Barcelona, given their current situation. The Catalan club has spent heavily this summer, shelling out €120 million to activate Antoine Griezmann’s Atletico Madrid release clause and had reportedly even taken a loan in order to do that. Given Barca’s current financial situation, investing in Neymar seems like a steep climb for the club.

Another big roadblock for Barcelona to sign Neymar would be his huge wage bill. The Brazilian earns a staggering €36 million a year at PSG and that is something Barcelona will not be able to match. Even though the Brazilian forward seems to be willing to take a cut in his pay in order to head back to his old club, Barcelona still won’t be in a good position to afford Neymar given the current high wage earners on Barca’s roster.

The fact that PSG rejected this unofficial first offer for Neymar from Barcelona sugggests that the Parisian club will go the full distance to make it hard for the Catalan club to secure Neymar’s services, given the fact that the relation between the two clubs went sour when Barcelona tried to poach PSG’s players like Marco Verratti, Adrien Rabiot and Thiago Silva in 2016 and 2017.

Will Neymar be successful in forcing a way out of PSG or will he be stuck at the French capital for another season?