No, you don’t dream, it’s the year 2025.
You may be wondering how on earth we are sitting here and discussing the possibility that Neymar will return to Barcelona this summer.
After all, the Brazilian has just turned 33 years old and has only played 13 football matches in the past two seasons.
I’m not going to blame you for scratching your head. However, this is the world of football transfers – and the world of Barcelona Football Club – which means: reign nothing.
As unreasonable from a fit as he seems to Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, it is an idea that is being investigated behind the scenes, as reported by my colleague David Ornstein.
I start to explain the state of playing.
Neymar drew a six -month deal last month with his boy’s club Santos, after he already reached an agreement with his Saudi club Hilal to leave for a free transfer. He moved to Saudi for € 90 million (£ 80 million/$ 102 million) in 2023 and scored once in seven performances, with his stay massively disturbed by the front cruciate ligament injury he sustained while playing Brazil, only a few months after he became a member.
His short-term contract at Santos will in theory allow him to get back in shape and he has made a clear start and scored twice in his six performances so far. Despite the stuttering return with all Hilal after his ACL injury, Neymar is now on a mission.
It is no secret that the RECORDCORER of Brazil has urged Barcelona several times since he came to PSG in 2017 for a reimbursement of € 222 million – which remains a world record. Neymar never felt as comfortable in Paris as in Barcelona, and his entourage has announced the club for years.
In 2019, the president of Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu, tried to bring him back. Four years later, when Neymar left PSG to join all Hilal, he tested the waters with Barcelona before hit Saudi. At that time, the Catalans wore a financial unrest and they could not even dream of paying a fee to PSG. Neymar accepted the reality of the situation and agreed to join All Hilal.
(Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty images)
But why would it be different now, where Barcelona is still fighting for salary limits and player registrations? And more importantly, in which world can club managers think that it is a good idea to sign an older player and run the risk of disturbing the established order of a young team that is bursting with talent?
Pini Zahavi, the player of the player, is a key figure when it comes to trying to understand what is happening here. Zahavi has a tight friendship with the Barca president Joan Laporta, who has punished the arrival of two of the largest customers in Zahavi in recent years: Robert Lewandowski and Hansi Flick. The relationship between the agent and the executive has been essential in those transfers and will certainly be again in the future; Jonathan Tah, the Bayer Leverkusen Center-Back available on a free this summer, is another player managed by Zahavi connected to Barcelona.
With the club that would play in the renovated Camp Nou in 2025-26, the arrival of a star name like Neymar would be attractive to celebrate the return to the stadium and to sell the 60,000 seats that are initially available when the team returns.
Neymar would have some influential allies in the dressing room. The club captain and Star Performer this season, Raphinha, has always been close to Neymar from their time together with the Brazilian national team. Then there is Lamine Yamal, who grew up worshiping Neymar. The two met each other on the Globe Soccer Awards Gala in December and have since dealt with each other on social media on social media.
(Marc Atkins/Getty images)
A positive for the precarious financial situation of Barcelona is that Neymar would arrive at a free transfer, with his short -term agreement with Santos that will end this summer. With his view of the representation of Brazil at the World Cup 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico, he can even agree to personal conditions that were favorable for Barcelona to be back in a club he holds on the largest stage.
From a football perspective it is difficult to claim how this movement would be logical. It is difficult to see how a 33-year-old Neymar, with his extensive injury record, would fit into the high-wearing system of Flick, which requires a considerable amount of off-the-ball work from his forward line. This exact problem is actually the reason why the 36-year-old Lewandowski was dropped from the starting line-up several times this season.
It is no secret that the Barcelona sports director, Deco, is investigating the market for a new attacker preferably one that can play on the left and in a central position.
Club sources, who asked to speak anonymously to protect their job, said Athletics That some players who have favored Deco, Luis Diaz, Rafael Leao from Liverpool, are, Alexander Isak from Newcastle. They look like much more suitable profiles for how Flick wants his Barcelona to play – but all three will have a lot of frees this summer when they leave their current clubs.
But what if the financial obstacles of Barcelona Neymar do a favor here? What if the club cannot fight to sign one of Deco’s top goals due to more registration problems? What if Neymar is the most feasible option that is available, and one that would please the President of the club and probably give a boost to ticket sales of the matchday?
This will certainly be the biggest decision for Barcelona this summer. As relevant as Laporta’s criteria have always been when it comes to the business activity of Barcelona, the preferences of Deco and the amount of money that the club earns back from players’ sales are also important factors.
And above them there should be Flick’s thoughts, the manager who has strengthened Barcelona and changed them in La Liga and Champions League opportunities. Next summer no relevant signing will be made without giving the green light – even if he and Neymar share a cop.
But, as we said: this is the sometimes incomprehensible world of football transfers, and this is Barcelona, so nothing excludes …
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