Paris sports director SG Leonardo, at the forefront of negotiations with Barcelona for the transfer of his superstar Neymar, said on Friday that there was still "no agreement" with the Catalan club, three days from the end mercato.
"Today, there is no agreement I do not know (if there will be an agreement before Monday night, Ed) It depends on Barcelona.We have been open to talk. "It has always been said that he can leave if a proposal that satisfies us comes in. This is not the case," said the Brazilian leader. "Our position has always been clear, they always knew what we wanted, the first time we had a written proposal from Barcelona was on August 27. We were open to talk to other players to "But we never had a written agreement on our conditions," continued "Leo" in a rare speech after the victory in Metz (2-0).
"We opened the possibility of his departure only on our terms, which never arrived"
The serial of the transfer of the "Ney", the most expensive player in history bought EUR 222 million by the PSG in 2017, has kept the football world in suspense for months. If he has expressed his intention to return to Catalonia, the Brazilian is still on stand-by in the capital, waiting for a deal between the two clubs. "This relationship (between the PSG and Neymar, Ed) today is not the most quiet relationship that exists, we opened the possibility of his departure only to our conditions, which never happened", explained Leonardo.
The press on both sides of the Pyrenees talked about meetings between the leaders of Barcelona and Paris, but also their stumbling blocks, particularly on the players who could serve as bargaining chips.
"The truth is that there is no club that has the money to buy it (Neymar, Ed.) The condition of his departure is always linked to finding a replacement, and maybe to be other players to complete the amount required.We were open to that, "clarified the leader. One of the challenges of the negotiations would be to convince Barça winger Ousmane Dembele to want to return to France, but the world champion would be reluctant to leave Spain.
"In relation to Dembélé, he knew he had to leave on the 27th, it's more complicated, we do not have a no, a yes, there are public reactions, but we did not have agree with Barcelona whether the player agrees or not.If the club does not agree, why talk with the players who are included in the negotiation? ", he swept.