Neymar has put long standing contract talks with Paris Saint-Germain on hold as he seeks to secure a return to Barcelona.
The Brazil international – subject of a world-record transfer fee when PSG deployed a €222million release clause to take him from the Catalan club four years ago – would prefer to rejoin Lionel Messi at Camp Nou than sign the lucrative extension on offer in France.
Joan Laporta's re-election as club president is understood to have influenced Neymar's thinking on a renewal that the French champions had been confident of completing. Laporta has been working to keep Messi, who has proposals from both Manchester City and PSG to join this summer as a free agent, at Barca for at least another season.
Neymar 's relationship with Messi remains a close one with Barca's captain having petitioned the club to re-sign the Brazilian on more than one occasion.
With Laporta intent on completing at least one marquee transfer to begin his latest term as president, a move for Neymar represents a less expensive operation than current principal target, Erling Haaland.
Barcelona's financial issues are such that PSG would be required to take one of Barcelona's high-earning players in a reciprocal deal; enabling both clubs to improve their Financial Fair Play positions.
France international Antoine Griezmann, who is considering his future in Spain while fielding approaches from leading clubs, would be one option. Ousmane Dembele, whom Barcelona signed in 2017 in the wake of Neymar's enforced sale, another.
Neymar's current deal expires in 2022, offering the 29-year-old a degree of leverage over the Qatar-owned club. Further complicating matters for PSG is that Kylian Mbappe is also due to become a free agent at the end of next season and is coveted by a number of Europe's leading clubs.
Asked about contract negotiations following Wednesday's 3-2 Champions League quarter-final win at Bayern Munich, PSG sporting director Leonardo said: “We’ll be happy to talk about contracts too, we have to see how things go and we’ll get in a more concrete situation with them shortly. But now we have to focus on the competition as we’re getting into the final stages.”
Graham Hunter discusses Neymar's latest attempt to rejoin Barcelona on the latest edition of The Transfer Window podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/user/12250300/ttw-nemyar-griezmann-messi-09-04
