Barcelona vice president Jordi Cardoner has ruled out a summer move for Brazilian international Neymar, who looks set to stay at PSG.
In an interview with Catalan outlet TV3, Jordi Cardoner has confirmed that Barcelona will not be bringing Neymar back to Camp Nou in this summer’s transfer window. The Blaugrana’s vice president though, did leave the door open for a future move for the Brazilian superstar.
Neymar created quite a sensation when he called it quits at Barcelona nearly two years ago to join PSG in a world record deal that has since changed the face of the transfer market. As for the move in itself, the Brazilian international has been a prolific player for Les Parisiens, with 51 goals and 29 assists in 58 appearances.
But, the fact that he has turned out just 58 times for the Ligue 1 champions has been a problematic aspect of his spell at the club, with the player missing major chunks of both the seasons he has been at Parc des Princes.
To make matters worse, disciplinary issues coupled with Neymar growing to be disillusioned at PSG in recent months have strained the relationship between the club and the player. As a result, the 27-year-old has been linked with a summer exit from the French capital, with Barcelona being linked him with quite heavily.
Barcelona have already bolstered their attack this summer by signing Antoine Griezmann. But, the arrival of the Frenchman has not done anything to slow down the Neymar links, with reports suggesting that Philippe Coutinho could be on his way out of Camp Nou to make room for his compatriot.
However, the rumour mill might no longer be abuzz, following comments from Jordi Cardoner. The Barcelona vice president has publicly ruled out a summer move for Neymar, although he did leave the door open for the Brazilian international to return to Camp Nou sometime in the future.
As quoted by Goal, Cardoner told TV3, “As of today, there’s no Neymar case, as the president said, and it’s complicated. We are passive actors. We know he’s not happy in Paris and it’s a situation that needs to be resolved in Paris. We haven’t spoken to them. There is a lot of respect between the clubs and if there is a Neymar case one day, we’ll talk. Today, at this time, it’s ruled out.”
With those comments, it looks like Barcelona might be done with their attacking recruitments for the summer. As for the likes of Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele, both of whom have been linked with summer exits, it remains to be seen if either player ends up leaving now, with Malcom already offloaded to make room for Griezmann.
