Neymar Is Always Welcome To Barcelona - Pique
Spain center-back Gerard Pique has revealed how Barcelona players tried to persuade club President Josep Maria Bartomeu into bringing Neymar back to the Camp Nou this summer.
Neymar shockingly left the Spanish champions to Paris Saint Germain in the summer 2017 for a world-record fee of 222 million Euros.
The 27-year old was keen to return to Barcelona in the summer just two years after leaving, but a move back to La Liga did not materialize.
Pique admitted he warned the former Santos forward against joining the Ligue 1 outfit back in 2017.
The former Manchester United defender was speaking to Spanish radio station, Cadena Ser, and revealed the players' plan to bring back the Brazilian, they even tried to alter salaries amid the constraints of Financial Fair Play.
"We didn't stump up money.” Pique said.
"What we said to the president was whether we could change our contracts because we knew there was a Financial Fair Play issue.”
“So we said to the president, rather than earn something in year one, we could earn it in year two or three or four.”
"At the end of the day we want to go along with what the club is doing and if we can help the club, in this case avoiding a financial fair problem, we've got no problem in doing that.”
"Rather than reducing our salary it was about finding a formula so that if the club wanted to sign Neymar they could. At the time they thought it was a good idea, but then other problems cropped up."
Pique was asked if Neymar could come back to Barcelona one day, and the Spain international said he would not rule that out.
Pique added: "In football anything can happen and every year just makes that clearer. We told Neymar, 'you're going to a golden prison'. But in football things can happen and you find the door open."
