[골닷컴] Reporter Man-Sung Han = It is said that Neymar, 29, is doing his best to persuade Lionel Messi, 33, who became a close friend in Barcelona in the past.
Messi’s contract with Barcelona will end in June. He has already officially requested a transfer from the Barcelona club once after the end of last season, suggesting a possible breakup. At the time, the transfer was not made due to the opposition of the Barcelona club and Messi’s determination to keep the contract term in the end. However, Messi has not signed a renewal contract with the club until now, with only four months left on the contract.
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Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Manchester City (Man City) were the most actively interested in signing Messi this summer. PSG has Neymar, a striker who made a treble in Barcelona with Messi in the 2014/15 season. On the other hand, Man City is a team led by Pep Guardiola, who led Barcelona from 2008 to 2012, which was evaluated as one of the strongest teams in football history centering on Messi. The only two teams are financially able to afford Messi.
According to a report on the 16th (Korean time) of the French daily newspaper’Requiff’, Neymar has been actively persuading Messi by recommending him to transfer to PSG. Already in December, Neymar publicly expressed a desire to play with Messi as in Barcelona. At the time, he said through’ESPN’, “What I want most is to play with Messi. I miss the days when I enjoyed the game while standing on the same playground.”
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At the time, Neymar added, “If Messi wants to, he can run in my position,” he added, “I definitely want to play with Messi next season. I hope so.”
On the other hand, unfortunately, Barcelona faces PSG in the round of 16 of the European Football Federation (UEFA) Champions League this season. However, due to injury, Neymar misses the first and second leg matches against his home team Barcelona.