Neymar feels that he was wrong to leave FC Barcelona in 2017.
Al-Hilal star Neymar “feels that he was wrong” to leave FC Barcelona according to SPORT.
The Brazilian shocked football in 2017 when deciding to join Paris Saint-Germain once they activated his $235 million release clause and in turn smashed the world transfer record.
He was well on his way to becoming a Barca legend at the time, as part of the iconic ‘MSN’ trio formed with fellow South Americans Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
Eager to get out of Messi’s shadow and win the Ballon d’Or, Neymar switched to the Parc des Princes nevertheless.
There, however, he failed to receive football’s highest individual award or help the Qatari-backed outfit win the Champions League for the first time in club history amid a 2020 loss in the final to Bayern Munich.
In the summer of 2023, Neymar told PSG club hierarchy he wished to leave after seven years in the French capital according to L’Equipe.
Furthermore, RMC Sport also reported that new head coach Luis Enrique and sporting director Luis Campos told the Santos academy product he was surplus to requirements.
With former PSG teammate Messi opting not to return to Barca and instead join Inter Miami, Neymar was heavily linked to a second stint in Catalonia himself.
Given Barca’s financial predicament, though, raising a transfer fee PSG would be happy with was near impossible while paying the player’s astronomical wages provided another hurdle.
Similarly rejected by Messi, Al-Hilal threw their hat into the ring. Though there was talk of them possibly purchasing the 31-year-old and then loaning him to the Catalans, this was never seriously considered by the Saudi Pro League team who eventually bought Neymar for a sum reported to hover around the $95 million mark.
Thanks to rupturing his ACL on international duty for Brazil against Uruguay this month, Neymar has only been able to make five appearances for his new employers and could miss the rest of the season.
A week on from that major setback, SPORT reported how Barca sporting director Deco contacted the Neymar camp to sound out a potential move in the last transfer window.
In conclusion, the daily newspaper revealed that Neymar “always wanted to come back” to Catalonia “because he feels he was wrong to leave Barca”.
“Now, after his injury, it seems that the paths of the Brazilian and the Blaugrana club will never meet again,” SPORT added.
Whether Neymar truly thinks this is hard to prove without him coming forward and admitting as much.
Maybe he will in retirement, but until then it is certainly a feeling many football fans across the map already share; that at Barca Neymar was all set up to be one of the greatest the club and the game had ever seen but made the wrong decision in opting to join PSG.
There he was never able to completely fulfil his undoubted potential, and often spent more time on the recovery table than the pitch where millions enjoy seeing him dazzle defenses.