Paris Saint-Germain ‘offered’ Neymar to Manchester City in a remarkable late development in the summer transfer window.
The French club are said to have made the decision after the Brazilian fell out with teammate Kylian Mbappe. The two superstars fell out over the order of penalty takers in the team during the Ligue 1 clash against Montpellier last month, after the Brazilian did not allow his teammate to take PSG's second spot-kick after the Frenchman had seen his first effort saved.
The fallout between the two saw Neymar ignore the agreement set by Paris Saint-Germain designed to ease tensions. Former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was reportedly forced to step in to separate the feuding pair in the dressing room after the on-field incident. PSG boss Christophe Galtier moved to tackle the issue head-on by staging a first-team meeting in which the two were rebuked and apologised.
Mbappe opted to sign a three-year contract extension with the Ligue 1 champions earlier this summer, with reports claiming that the striker would hold great sway in the club's sporting decisions as part of the agreement to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes. Indeed, the appointment of new sporting director Luis Campos could be linked to Mbappe as the pair know each other from their time together at Monaco.
Those reports may now be linked to the last claim, coming from Marca, that PSG attempted to offload Neymar this summer to City. The French club were aware that no other club would be able to afford the Brazilian’s wage packet.
However, it is perhaps unsurprising that City had little interest in taking on the service of the superstar forward. Pep Guardiola’s team had already invested heavily in their front-line this summer with the signings of Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez from Borussia Dortmund and River Plate respectively.
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There is reportedly an element of rivalry between Mbappe and Messi at the Parc des Princes relating to the status of Neymar while multiple reports last season outlined the depth of the dressing room split in Paris – with Mbappe believing Messi's friend lacks discipline and is damaging to the club.
The fallout of the clash over penalties continued earlier this month with Neymar 'liking' two social posts that slammed Mbappe over the episode. The first post included the sentence: "After the game, the coach said that Mbappe will be the team's main hitter for the season. An absurdity." Another referred to the French striker being the “boss” of PSG.
