Neymar dropped a bombshell on Wednesday as he followed up scoring twice for Paris Saint-Germain in their 3-1 Champions League win over Manchester United by revealing his desire to reunite with Lionel Messi next season.
The Brazilian enjoyed four successful seasons alongside the six-time Ballon d’Or winner at Barcelona before making a world record 222 million euro ($264m) move to the French capital in 2017.
“It’s what I most want, to enjoy being with him on the field again,” Neymar, whose contract at PSG runs until 2022, told ESPN.
“I want to play with him for sure, next year we have to do it.”
Neymar was heavily linked with a return to Barcelona in 2019, but the Catalan giants were unable to fund an acceptable offer for PSG.
Barca have had to agree salary cuts worth 122 million euros in players’ salaries this season to help offset the financial hole left by the coronavirus pandemic and are highly unlikely to be in a position to bring Neymar back next year.
Instead, it is Messi who could be on the move as the Argentine is out of contract at the end of the season and publicly expressed his desire to leave in August.
Then Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu would not free Messi from the final year of his deal at the Camp Nou, but Bartomeu has since resigned with new presidential elections scheduled for January 24.
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Manchester City were the favourites to land Messi’s signature earlier this year, but PSG could be an alternative for a player who will turn 34 at the end of this season.
“He can play in my position, there is no problem,” Neymar joked. “Take me out.”
Neymar’s partnership with Kylian Mbappe is yet to deliver PSG’s first-ever Champions League title, but the French champions should have another shot in this season’s knockout stages after a vital victory in Manchester.
Thomas Tuchel’s men are now level on points with United and RB Leipzig with one game in Group H to come.
But PSG are in the driving seat as they host already-eliminated Istanbul Basaksehir next week, while United travel to Germany needing a point to reach the last 16.