Neymar will only play for Barcelona if he returns to Spain, club not planning a move

Amidst the uncertain future of Lionel Messi, speculations about former Barcelona forward Neymar’s subsequent destination also seem to have gathered steam.

At this time, he is certainly not considering a move back to Brazil and journalist Julien Laurens, while writing for ESPN, has claimed that if he is to return to La Liga, he will not play for any team other than Barcelona.

Interestingly enough, however, the team from Catalonia has no plan to move for their former star as his acquisition would impair the finances to a great extent.

Now, it is being reported that Neymar, despite having two more years left on his current PSG contract, is ready to leave and even the club is willing to let him go if there are any substantial offers on the table.

PSG paid a world-record €222 million fee to sign Neymar from Barcelona back in 2017. Despite a strong start to his PSG tenure, Neymar’s relationship with the fans has deteriorated to a great level and even the Parisians are pondering the option of letting him leave.

In that context, Laurens says that the team is open to listening to offers with a loan including an option to buy. For that, PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi met with new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly in February in order to discuss a deal for the Brazilian superstar. 

Now, Boehly is said to be a big fan of Neymar and while he would absolutely love to see the Brazilian at Stamford Bridge, nothing substantial has taken place so far.

For what it is worth, Neymar’s preferred destination is the English Premier League as it is the only league that can afford his salary (€40 million per year) while also covering his transfer fee. But if he is to move to Spain, there is no other team than Barcelona that he would join. 

This move, however, is next to impossible as Barcelona are in no place to spend a high transfer fee on a player at the moment, let alone give him €40 million per year. And this probably means that he if does end up leaving PSG, Premier League would be his likely destination.