Neymar's former agent Wagner Ribeiro has claimed that Chelsea made an official bid to sign the Brazil star in 2010.
The now Paris Saint-Germain star was still a Santos player and had just been called up to the national team when Chelsea made an official bid, Ribeiro said in an interview with AS.
Bayern Munich and Juventus were among the other clubs to have made offers but Neymar ended up staying in Brazil until he joined Barcelona in 2013.
That move carried some baggage too, with a Fifa investigation into the documents surrounding the move and a revelation some time after that the club had paid about €20million more than initially announced.
But it was arguably money well spent by Barca as Neymar became a global star in Catalonia, winning seven major trophies including a pair of La Liga titles and the Champions League before becoming the world's most expensive player when moving to the French capital for €222million (£198million) in the summer of 2017.
"There were many calls for him," Ribeiro said. "I received an official offer from Chelsea the day Neymar debuted with the Brazilian team in 2010.
"They made an offer, we studied it, but in the end we didn’t decide anything. On that occasion, we transferred it to Neymar’s father and the player himself.
"Then came other offers from Bayern Munich and Juventus, with whom I had a meeting in Turin."
Real Madrid were also understood to be keen on a move for Neymar at around the same time.
