Skip to main content

Barcelona Confirm Neymar Given Permission to Skip Training as Player Tells Teammates He's Off to PSG

  • Author:
  • Publish date:

Barcelona have granted Neymar permission to leave the club ahead of a potential £197m world-record transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

The huge revelation broke on Wednesday morning as the Catalan giants took to their official Twitter account to confirm that the ex-Santos star was no long training alongside his team-mates.

Various news outlets including BBC Sport also revealed that Neymar had now edged closer to the exit door following reports that his switch could have been in jeopardy thanks to two unlikely key Barcelona allies.

However, La Liga’s governing body – Liga de Futbol Profesional – have raised their head above the parapet to claim that they would not allow the transfer to go through due to Financial Fair Play rules, according to Sport.

The same media publication also reported, in a separate article, that Barcelona will call on their fellow G-14 clubs – the biggest European sides – to pressurise PSG into halting their advances for Neymar, with La Blaugrana claiming they would raid one of their fellow giants for a replacement to the Brazilian superstar.

598187e52b3a7e735d000001.jpg

Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, was quoted by Sport as he explained why PSG’s reported £197m transfer for Neymar would be a non-starter if they truly were about to land the 25-year-old.

He stated: "Although PSG didn't pay the clause yet we will denounce them. We advised the PSG president what we were going to do and we saw PSG's policy continue along the same line.

“They cannot make a number in which their commercial rights are greater than those of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Nobody believes this."

Sources within the Barcelona camp have also alleged that La Liga will “block” any attempts from the Ligue 1 giants to snap up Neymar’s signature – a decision which is thought to be two-fold in nature.

Along with the rules about Financial Fair Play, Barcelona are thought to have entrusted a payment to the Spanish notary’s office that would see Neymar’s father, who is also his agent, receive a smaller signing-on fee for the new contract Neymar penned last October.

Neymar Santos Snr. was expected to be paid in the region of€26m for helping push the deal over the line, but Barcelona now claim that he will only receive a portion of that cash as his son is no longer set to see out the remainder of his deal at the Nou Camp.

Meanwhile, the Copa del Rey winners are thought to be applying pressure to other European heavyweights to prevent PSG from acquiring the forward.

The likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus and Real Madrid have been informally asked to intervene by Barcelona with the thinly veiled threat that their own stars could be poached by Ernesto Valverde’s side if Neymar departs.

Liverpool would likely be the most obvious target for Barca with the club’s talisman Philippe Coutinho linked with an £80m move to Catalunya, despite the Reds’ insistence that he is not for sale.