Paris Saint-Germain are worried that Neymar is planning his escape from the club, according to reports.
Neymar is currently recovering from an injury at home in Brazil. The PSG forward broke a bone in his foot back in February, ruling him out of the rest of the club season. Neymar, signed from Barcelona for a world record fee of £200m last summer, did not return to Paris for the club’s title celebrations, and this is said to have caused concern at the club.
Reports claim that the Qatari-owned enterprise are worried that the player is “preparing the ground to negotiate his departure.” Neymar has long been linked with a move to Real Madrid.
According to Diego Torres, writing in El Pais newspaper, relations between Neymar and PSG cooled recently after the club sent a delegation to Brazil to try to convince the forward to return to Paris and join the French title celebrations. He reportedly rejected their proposal and was playing poker at home when PSG lifted the league title. Neymar had previously decided against getting treatment for his injury in Paris and seemingly turned his attention to getting fit for the World Cup, rather than returning to action for PSG.
The report claims that Neymar’s transfer fee would cost at least €300m (£263m) and that if he wants to leave this summer, he will have to negotiate his exit directly with the owners of PSG. However, some at the club are reportedly already resigned to losing him. “The only thing left to do to Neymar is to communicate that he wants to go,” a source told Torres. Neymar also reportedly has an issue with the weather in Paris.
By all accounts, the Brazilian seems like more hassle than he’s worth for PSG.