Real Madrid make serious offer to PSG for Neymar
Real Madrid make their opening offer to acquire Neymar from Paris Saint Germain.
For a while, Real Madrid had been linked with a move for Neymar despite signing quite a significant number of players to begin with. Their level of interest in the player was up for debate, however. Were they actually planning to make a move or were they simply doing it to raise the price for their bitter rivals, Barcelona. Well, if reports are to be believed, their interest is very real.
According to L’Equipe, Madrid offered PSG both Gareth Bale, Keylor Navas, James Rodriguez, as well as €100 million for the Brazilian. Unfortunately for their cause, the Parisian club declined their offer. But they were not alone in being rejected.
ESPN report that PSG also rejected a bid from Barcelona that saw the Catalans acquire Neymar on a loan for two seasons with an obligation to buy at the end of the second year. The benefit for PSG in this deal would have been the hefty loan fee that the Catalans were willing to pay.
An outsider looking in, the Real Madrid proposal is far and away a more attractive offer. Their bid serves PSG in a number of ways. In Gareth Bale they get an automatic replacement for Neymar and one that started off the league rather well in spite of nearly being frozen out by Zinedine Zidane. Perhaps more importantly, they would get a quality keeper in Keylor Navas and would undoubtedly be an upgrade to the keepers they have at the moment.
They also get a very good attacking midfielder in James Rodriguez and last but not least, a pretty hefty transfer fee.
Yet, PSG declined. If anyone was looking for a drawback they would likely need to gauge in the wage demands by the players heading to Paris. Both Bale and James are on pretty big wages and are unlikely to accept a decrease even if it meant more playing time somewhere else.
Regardless, Real Madrid proved that their interest in Neymar is genuine and based on their offer, are willing to go further than what Barcelona are capable of at the moment. If this is a starting point, Madrid may very well be best positioned to get the Brazilian. But it’s far from a done deal as Juventus are also reportedly interested as well.
Next. Barcelona: Ousmane Dembele will not be involved in Neymar swap. dark
The Neymar saga is starting to heat up even more and if a move does happen, it will likely occur near the end of the transfer deadline on September 2.