Real Madrid will make ‘biggest effort’ to sign Neymar says pundit
Real Madrid and Barcelona are competing to lure Neymar away from PSG, with the Samba star adamant his future lies away from the Parc des Princes.
The Brazil international has had enough of life in France just two years after moving to the capital.
Barcelona are considered frontrunners in the race to sign Neymar but, despite that, Catalan newspaper Sport say Real Madrid were close to signing the player just days ago.
Publicly, Los Blancos have always sworn that has never been the case.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are scrapping to sign PSG star Neymar (Image: GETTY)
Real Madrid were close to beating Barcelona to Neymar days ago (Image: GETTY)
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But with Neymar so eager to wear red and blue in Catalonia once again, it seems the situation is slipping away from him.
The player himself is supposedly delighted that Barcelona have been pushing to land him.
Yet whether they can get PSG to yield given the strained relationship between the two clubs is something only time will tell.
Meanwhile, Marseille coach Andre Villas-Boas believes Neymar’s move to PSG in 2017 has damaged his hopes of being at the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
"He is an important player in the world of football,” he said.
“For me, it was the player who could succeed Ronaldo and Messi for the Ballon d'Or.
“But he did not recover all the qualities he had shown in Barcelona.
"For Ligue 1, it's not good if he leaves.
"This type of player has an important image in football, a bit like when Ronaldinho was here in Paris.
"There's this attractiveness, the football world wants to watch these kinds of players. I don't know what's going to happen, I can't comment on the separation because I'm not the PSG coach."