- Messi offered to make Neymar the superstar at Barcelona should he opt to remain at Camp Nou
- The Argentine offered to assist in making Neymar win the Ballon d'Or
- Barcelona are in talks with Liverpool over Philippe Coutinho
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi in a bid to convince Neymar to stay at Barcelona offered to help him win the Ballon d’Or award, Spanish media reports.
According to the same report, Messi along with forward Luis Suarez met the Brazilian before preseason fixture against Juventus in Los Angeles and convinced him to stay at Barcelona, however they had no idea that a deal with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) was already penned.
Neymar and Messi photo: Marca
“What do you want? You want to be the Ballon d’Or? I’ll make you Ballon d’Or,” Messi reportedly told Neymar during their conversation.
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Messi had agreed to always provide Neymar with quality assists during matches, so as to increase his goal tally, doing exactly that in preseason game against Juventus in which the Brazilian scored twice in Barca’s 2-1 win, but the 25-year-old had already decided.
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Neymar has expressed on several occasions that he desires to win the Ballon d’Or (footballer of the year award) and is striving to put his hands on the award.
Barcelona are in talks with Liverpool over Philippe Coutinho and Dortmund for signing Ousmane Dembele as possibe replacements to Neymar.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com recently asked Nigerians to give their thoughts on Neymar's move to PSG in this video below;
ROSY CREST
Wednesday, 16 August 2017