Neymar Senior, the father of Brazilian starlet Neymar, has rubbished reports that FC Barcelona have paid Santos £8.4 million to guarantee the signature of his son by 2014.
Reports out of Spain also suggested that if Santos did not sell Neymar to Barca that they would be forced to pay £16.6 million to the European champions.
“Neymar has a contract with Santos until 2014,” Neymar Senior told ONA FM.
“We believe it is in his best interests to stay, grow and mature as a footballer at Santos.
“We have just renewed his contract until 2014 – that is what has been decided.
“The only agreement that exists is between him and Santos.”
Neymar has also been strongly linked to Barcelona’s rivals Real Madrid.
In fact, on 2 November 2011, ESPNsoccernet reported that Neymar had agreed in principle to join Real Madrid, with Santos receiving a transfer fee of £53 million.
An anonymous source said: “Neymar will be a Real Madrid player in July, but he is not going there any earlier. He has not signed a contract as yet.”
The Brazilian teenager was set to make a reported £1 million-a-month in wages, with his deal potentially reaching £150 million.
This bidding war could get rather pricey. Either way, Neymar is the beneficiary, which means that regardless of which club he chooses to join, the Santos star is in line for a substantial raise.
Nonetheless, Neymar Senior did admit that joining either FC Barcelona or Real Madrid would be a great option for his son in the future.
“They are two great teams and Neymar would be proud to sign for either of them,” he added.
“Barcelona would be a special option but there is no agreement.”
Neymar Senior also acknowledged that the Catalans were the far superior side in Yokohama.
“Barca were clearly superior and it was a privilege for Neymar to be able to face a team that plays such wonderful football,” he said.
“Neymar must know how to win and how to lose; he saw an interview with Pep Guardiola after the final in which he said that training consists of losing in order to then go on and win.
“Neymar understood that victories are not built solely on other victories and we spoke about that after the game.”
Take this with a grain of salt if you will, but the forward’s father also added that Neymar greeted Barca president Sandro Rosell following Santos’ 4-0 defeat.
“Neymar met Rosell on the pitch during the celebrations and they congratulated each other with mutual respect, but there was no more than that,” he concluded.
Where will Neymar be playing football in 2012?
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