Neymar will always be welcomed at Barcelona, admits Gerard Pique
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Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has admitted that Neymar will still be welcomed at Barcelona despite the Brazilian’s controversial move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017. Pique also said that Neymar was warned by the team-mates on the move but the Samba star insisted on joining the Ligue 1 champions.
Neymar sealed a move to PSG from Barcelona in 2017 and became World’s most expensive player as the Paris club paid a humongous release clause of €200 million for player’s services, causing anger and rage among Barcelona fans. However, Barcelona tried to re-sign Neymar from PSG this summer after the 27 year old expressed his desire to return to the Nou Camp. However, PSG and the Catalan club couldn’t agree on a transfer fee and Neymar had to remain at Parc des Princes.
As reported by Marca, Gerard Pique told that despite the contentious move, Neymar will still be welcomed at the club. Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are Neymar’s close friends and pushed for Brazilian’s return during the summer. The 32 year old centre-back revealed how the players tried to persuade the president Josep Matia Bartomeu into making the deal happen.
“Neymar back to Barcelona? In football, anything can happen. We already told him: you're going to a golden prison. The doors are open for him [to return]. What's been said, that he wants to return to Barcelona, yes [it's true]. We told Bartomeu that if payments were deferred on contracts to adjust to financial fair play in order for Neymar to join, we'd do it,” Pique told El Larguero.
The former Manchester United centre-back also commented on the Real Madrid-Barcelona rivalry during the El Clasico. Pique also gave his views on El Clasico being postponed to December due to civil unrest in Barcelona and Catalonia. Clasico is now to be played on December 18, a Wednesday, prompting fans to disagree with the odd time and date of the fixture.
“The Barcelona-Madrid rivalry has always been pushed to the limit, and sometimes I have even exceeded the limit. When I take off my kit, I've never had any problems with the people of Madrid. And I get on very well with Nacho , Lucas Vazquez... With Sergio Ramos I don't have a friendship, but we have a lot of respect.
“My humble opinion is that there was no need to postpone El Clasico. There has never been violence in a stadium in Spain. It was magnifying something that wasn't a problem. I think that playing Barcelona-Real Madrid on a Wednesday is not the best thing for Spanish football. They should have picked it up and said, 'you'll play here and that's it,” concluded Pique.
