According to As, in private, Barcelona’s coach Xavi rejects Neymar’s return due to concerns about his negative influence.
Is Neymar close to returning to Barça? While the Spanish press has been suggesting so, AS contradicts this by stating that Xavi, the Blaugrana coach, maintains his opposition to the arrival of the Brazilian forward, despite certain sectors of the club insisting that the PSG player is the most viable alternative to replace Ousmane Dembélé.
« The argument to exclude Neymar is not purely based on sports, but clearly extraneous: there’s concern that he could become a negative influence in a team composed of many young players, » explains AS.
Barcelona reportedly reached a financial agreement with Neymar, around 12 million euros per season. However, PSG is not willing to let the player go without compensation. Compensation that Barcelona might not be able to afford.
« Within the club, there’s always a great divergence of opinions between those who blindly bet on Neymar as a catalyst to give a qualitative boost to the team and as an attraction to encourage fans to come to Montjuïc, and those who consider the Brazilian forward a controversial and clearly declining figure, » states AS. But the one who can change everything is Xavi. And for now, he doesn’t want Neymar.
