Eric Abidal has claimed that, while working as director of football at Barcelona, he could have brought Neymar back to Camp Nou in 2019, but the clubâs board signed Antoine Griezmann instead.
A return for the Brazilian forward had been mooted for some time prior to the Blaugrana entering into discussions regarding a possible deal with Paris Saint-Germain.
In the end, Griezmann was prised away from domestic rivals Atletico Madrid, but Abidal maintains the South American superstar could have returned.
What has been said?
Former Barca defender Abidal told The Telegraph: âTen days before the end of the transfer window, I went to Paris to talk with Leonardo [PSGâs sporting director]Â and I was with my CEO, and we were talking about Neymar.
âI think if the CEO goes to Paris Saint-Germain, itâs because we can sign him. If we didn't sign Griezmann before, I think 100 per cent we could have re-signed Neymar because what we needed was a winger and when Neymar was in Barcelona he was amazing.
âThis is not about which player is better, it was what I thought was the position we needed at the time. The team needed a real winger. The president decided to sign Griezmann.
âOne of the arguments against Neymar was that he had a court case against the club, so itâs not easy. They said he would have to stop the court process if he wanted to come back. That wasnât my problem because I was not at the club when that dispute happened. In my view, I could sign the player, but it didnât happen.â
Who else did Abidal miss out on?
Abidal was one of those to be offloaded by Barca on the back of the humbling 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League that brought the 2019-20 campaign to a close.
Manager Quique Setien was also relieved of his duties after just seven months at the helm, and Abidal says he advised the Blaugrana to go in a different direction.
He added on drawing up a shortlist of candidates to replace Ernesto Valverde in January 2020: âOn my list was Mauricio Pochettino, Quique Setien, Max Allegri and Xavi Hernandez. Quique was appointed, but my first option was Pochettino.â
Quizzed on whether he ever spoke with the former Tottenham boss, who has strong ties to Barcaâs local rivals Espanyol: âYes and not only me. I told the board âI have to bring the best coach we can in the market. Iâm not here for politics because he was before in Espanyolâ.
âFor me, itâs not politics. I wanted the best and Pochettino is one of the best in our game. He reached the Champions League final with Tottenham, you have to respect this, he has a good philosophy of playing, a good philosophy of training, players love him and I think he would be a better coach now for this situation, but with a real project.â