Barcelona officials are hoping to get Neymar to announce in public that he is going to stay at the Barcelona FC club, as rumours swirl about the French club Paris Saint-Germain triggering a release clause to secure the Brazilian forward. PSG appear to be more than willing to pay up release clause in Neymar’s Barcelona contract that stands at €222m (£196m), a sum that will overshadow the £89m that Manchester United paid Juvestus last summer for Paul Pogba. Reports suggest that with agent fees, wages and other extras, the total cost could be £450 million.
On the other hand, Barcelona are quite aware that the French club is poaching for the their star player, and are determined to have the player stay at Nou Camp. Teammate Gerard Pique posted a photograph of Neymar on Twitter with the message ‘He stays’ and a number of newspapers in Catalonia, loyal to the Catalan club, claimed it was proof that the Brazilian forward was not leaving.
On the other hand, other Spanish newspapers such as Marca and AS have reported that PSG are confident about securing a deal. This speculation has impacted Barcelona’s pre-season tour of the United States, and the club wants it to end soon by Neymar making a firm statement stating his intent by the end of this week. The club has scheduled a press conference today, when a player will accompany manager Ernesto Valverde to talk about Barcelona’s tour. The club will play a friendly against Real Madrid on Thursday in Miami, where Neymar will also attend a Nike event and interact with the media after the event.
Barcelona appear to be confident that their star striker will elect to stay at the club, although reports do suggest otherwise. Before PSG made their interest public, Neymar was asked whether he would consider moving to England for the Premier League, and he had said it did interest him at this point of time.
