EBN– Brazilian star Neymar revealed details of the offer he received from Spanish club Real Madrid before signing for arch-rivals Barcelona in 2013.
Neymar emerged as one of the world’s most prominent football talents during his time with Santos, sparking a huge competition among European clubs to win his services.
In the end, Barcelona won the race in their favour by signing the player for 57 million euros, before later selling him to Paris Saint-Germain in a record deal worth 222 million euros in 2017.
During his participation in the “Podpah” podcast, Neymar revealed the details of the offer he received from Real Madrid, saying: “I received an offer from the two big clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Real Madrid put a blank check in front of me, and they said to me: ‘Sign and we will pay you whatever you ask for.'”
He added: “Florentino Perez (Real Madrid president) loved me very much and spoke to me more than once.”
“He wanted to see me play for Real Madrid, but in the end I decided to listen to my heart. Even though I would have been paid three times what I was paid at Barcelona,” he continued.
Neymar 33, explained that his dream had always been to play for Barcelona, where its two great stars were at the time, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi.
“I wanted to play alongside Leo (Messi), so I decided to join Barcelona,” he said.
On the other hand, the Spanish newspaper “Marca” published statements by Ramon Martinez, the legendary technical secretary of Real Madrid, who revealed that Neymar spent a few days at the Real Madrid Academy in March 2006.
He added that the Spanish club had applied to register the player, but the deal failed because the club refused to provide housing for Neymar’s family worth 60 thousand euros, which was what the family needed to move to Spain.
