Neymar was willing to go to Real Madrid, but they didn’t want to pay his transfer fee - report

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Los blancos did not want to spend what PSG asked for

Neymar was willing to go to Real Madrid and spoke to several of their players in anticipation of a move, but the transfer did not happen because Madrid would not match Paris Saint-Germain’s asking price, MARCA reports.

The Brazilian star was fed up at PSG and wanted to join Barcelona, according to rumor. However, his high price turned the blaugrana off from the option. That’s when, apparently, he turned to Madrid. Rumors flew that los blancos had made inquires for him, and at some point many people thought he would join Madrid - including, apparently, Lionel Messi himself. The Argentine revealed in an interview he at one point thought Neymar would, in fact, go to “the White House.”

The former Barcelona player’s interest was so high, MARCA reports, that he spoke with current Madridistas to sound out the possibility. Specifically, he was in touch with Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Casemiro, and Luka Modrić, the report says.

Florentino Pérez, a big admirer of Neymar’s talent, reportedly considered the signing but was worried about the cost. Then came a reported attempt to make some sort of exchange involving Gareth Bale and James Rodríguez, but PSG rejected those options.

The coach, Zindeine Zidane, was also said to be against the signing. Another mark against the operation was the arrival of Eden Hazard from Chelsea. The Belgian plays on the left wing, similarly to Neymar, and Madrid perhaps did not need two super signings of similar profiles.

In the end, all these reasons made Madrid pull out of the running to land Neymar. That’s when he reportedly went all in on trying to join Barcelona, even offering to put some of his own money up to make the deal happen. But that was not to be either, and he remained at PSG.

Source: barcablaugranes.com