PSG ready to offer Neymar the world in bid to bring him to Ligue 1

Barcelona director Raul Sanllehi has been in Brazil in for the last couple of days and there are at least two theories as to why. 

One is that he was trying to sign young Palmeiras forward Gabriel Jesús for €24million and offload disastrous signing Douglas to Cruzeiro for €2m. The other explanation is that he was there to persuade Neymar not to leave Barcelona.

Paris Saint-Germain have promised Neymar the world in one final attempt to take him out of La Liga and into Ligue 1. If he moves to Paris, club president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi will make sure he is paid as much as Lionel Messi with earnings of around €23m a season.

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Ligue 1 giants PSG are weighing up a big-money move for Barcelona forward and Brazil captain Neymar 

Barcelona cannot compete with that figure, first and foremost because the financial regulations of the club's own statutes limit the percentage of the budget that can be spent on wages, and the fact that it is already at the limit is partly behind the delay in announcing a new deal with Neymar before July 1 when figures when a new financial year kicks in.

At Barcelona he will take home closer to €15m if he signs a new deal and he will inevitably continue to be in the commercial shadow of Messi whose light shows no signs of dimming, and who could be about to win the Copa America – a competition Barcelona preferred Neymar not play in if he was also going to play in the Olympics in Rio.

PSG have also told him he will be among friends in Paris. Fellow Brazilians Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Lucas Moura and Thiago Motta will welcome him with open arms and off the pitch he will not be pursued through the courts over tax issues as he has in Spain.

If he makes his decision on purely football grounds then he will stay at Barcelona. La Liga is a far bigger draw than Ligue 1 which PSG tend to win at a canter only to then massively underachieve in the Champions League. 

The team are still not sure who their manager will be next season with Unai Emery lined up but still waiting for them to sack Laurent Blanc. And for all the talk of him winning the Balon d'Or free from Messi's shadow, he will not even be on the shortlist if PSG continue to fail in Europe.

Barcelona are not back in training for another month and Neymar will be busy trying to repair Brazil's image by winning Olympic gold two years on from the failings of the World Cup so he will miss the start of the season anyway. Some Barca fans are concerned they have seen the last of him. 

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Neymar, seen with tennis star Serena Williams, would arguably be taking a step down by moving to Ligue 1

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Neymar scored an impressive 39 goals in 41 appearances in all competitions for Barca last season

Others believe if PSG were really able to pay the €190m buy-out clause then it would not be the worst thing that has ever happened to the club.

The likelihood is that this is just one last round of posturing before Neymar finally sits down and signs a new deal at Barcelona. 

Barca captain Andres Iniesta said at the weekend: 'If I had to bet I would say that Neymar will stay at Barcelona,' and that is the view of most of the dressing room.

It may even be that the meeting between PSG and one of  the various representatives of Neymar, Wagner Ribeiro, was just a final curtain call for the whole will he-won't he, show.

Neymar has bought a house in the beach town of Castelldefels not far from where Messi, Luis Suarez and Luis Enrique live but building work on it has been stalled in recent weeks and that has also raised concerns. Are the builders on holiday? Or is Neymar Paris-bound?' ask the gossip magazines.

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Neymar's frustrations at playing second fiddle to Lionel Messi could tempt him away from Catalonia  

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Barca are considering fresh terms for Neymar in a bid to keep him at the club amid PSG's interest 

As the soap opera shows no signs of subsiding Neymar seems unaffected grinning out at the world from his Instagram account. 

No publicity is bad publicity and him having been such a difficult catch will surely only make it easier for Barcelona to justify what they are paying him when they finally announce it. And they are still expected to do that in the next two weeks.

Barcelona have just signed a massive new sponsorship deal with Nike, who also sponsor Neymar, worth a €120m a season until 2026, and the club have recently agreed to pay €5.5m to draw a line once and for all on the murky waters signing of the Brazil international in 2013. Neither seems like the action of a club about to lose their second most important asset.

This ought to be Neymar's last flirtation with PSG before he settles down with Barcelona but until he has signed on the dotted line on that new contract – the one that will bump his buy-out up from €190m to €250m – supporters will not want to take anything for granted. 

Source: dailymail