Chelsea came close to signing Neymar aged 18 three years before his Barcelona transfer, reveals Brazilian’s former agent

CHELSEA made a serious attempt to sign Neymar back in 2010, the Brazilian's former agent has revealed.

Then just 18-years-old, the Santos trickster was already one of world football's hottest properties, having dazzled with his incredible skills while playing in Brazil.

Having made his Santos debut in March 2009, Neymar was already in the reckoning for a place in the senior Brazil squad just a year later.

New coach Mano Menezes handed him his Selecao debut in August 2010, and it was on that very day that Chelsea made their move.

On the interest that summer, former agent Wagner Ribeiro told AS: "There were many calls for him.

"I received an official offer from Chelsea the day Neymar debuted with the Brazilian team in 2010.

"They made an offer, we studied it, but in the end we didn’t decide anything.

"On that occasion, we transferred it to Neymar’s father and the player himself."

The West Londoners had just won the Premier League and FA Cup double in stunning fashion under Carlo Ancelotti, scoring over 100 goals in the process and playing free-flowing football.

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Their bid was deemed to have been around £25million, but the move never came to fruition.

Unsurprisingly, they weren't the only top side to have tried to sign Neymar that summer.

Ribeiro continued: "Then came other offers from Bayern Munich and Juventus, with whom I had a meeting in Turin."

As it happened, Neymar would stay at Santos for another three years, helping them to three consecutive league titles - as well as Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana glory.

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Real Madrid president Florentino Perez even "dreamed" of signing the superstar forward.

But his heart was set on Barcelona, for whom he signed for in 2013, enjoying a dazzling four years at Camp Nou before departing for Paris Saint-Germain in controversial circumstances.

The LaLiga champions are expected to go all out to re-sign the now-28-year-old superstar this summer.