Barcelona have finally figured out how to finance Neymar move

After a transfer saga that lasted the whole of summer where Barcelona failed to resign Neymar from PSG, the Catalan club seem to have finally figured out the means to bring the Brazilian to the club…

FC Barcelona were unsuccessful in bringing back Neymar to the club as they could not meet Paris Saint-Germain’s asking price for the Brazilian. Neymar wanted to leave the French capital to return to the La Liga champions and his actions made his desire to leave even more obvious. However, PSG stood firm and succeeded in keeping their star forward at the club. Barca had spent heavily in the summer and had reportedly even taken a loan to fund Antoine Griezmann’s transfer from Atletico Madrid that cost them €120 million. This made it impossible for them to even consider paying PSG’s reported asking price of €300 million for Neymar as it would put them in trouble with UEFA’s Finacial Fairplay rules.

However, the Blaugrana’s pursuit for Neymar hasn’t stopped just yet. As reported by Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona are still interested to get Neymar to the club and have finally found a way to make that happen. Surprisingly, Philippe Coutinho is the key for the move to finally go through. Barcelona need to let go of certain players in order to raise enough of the €180 million that they’d now have to pay Paris Saint-Germain to land Neymar. Getting rid of a few players will also help lighten Barca’s wage bill. To make this happen, the club is closely monitoring Coutinho’s situation. The Brazilian, who is currently out on loan at Bayern Munich, has been having a successful season so far scoring and assisting 7 each in all competitions for the Bavarian club.

With Coutinho gradually getting back to his form that he displayed during his time at Liverpool. it would be favorable for the Catalan giants to offload him and use that money to fund the Neymar move. If Bayern exercise their option to buy Coutinho, Barca will get close to €120 million from that deal. if that does not happen, then given his current form, Coutinho is set to attract interest from the Premier League especially from clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, who need a playerof Coutinho’s caliber. As per Transfermarkt, Coutinho’s market value fell down to a mere €70 million as of December 2019. However, if the Brazilian forward is able to maintain his current form throughout the season, his valuation might increase to at least €100 million, which would mean sufficient cash inflow for Barcelona.

Adding Neymar to their roster would mean that Barcelona’s wage bill will eventually increase but letting go of players like Ivan Rakitic, Philippe Coutinho and Samuel Umtiti who seem to be surplus to requirement at Barcelona will lessen the effects of Neymar’s high wages. As per The Sun, back in October, Gerard Pique claimed that the Barcelona stars were ready to take a pay cut in order to help the Catalan club to re-sign Neymar. This reflects on how badly Barcelona want Neymar and the extent to which the club was ready to go to sign him.

Will Barcelona be able to successfully land Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain next summer?