Barcelona striker Neymar turned down a £170million contract, a private jet and a chain of hotels to join Paris Saint-Germain
Brazilian striker was offered eye-watering deal to become world's highest-paid player at French champions before signing new five-year Nou Camp deal this summer
NEYMAR was offered a tax-free £650k-a-week contract, a private jet and a chain of hotels to join Paris Saint-Germain this summer.
The Brazilian’s agent Wagner Ribeiro revealed the player met PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi twice during the transfer window to discuss the eye-watering £160MILLION move.
But the Barcelona striker, 24, turned down the chance to become the world’s highest-paid player to stay at the Nou Camp.
Ribeiro claimed: “We held two hours of talks and Neymar was impressed.
“Nasser [Al-Khelaifi] told him they had no tax issues and he would be the team’s main man, which is not the case at Barcelona.
“I told Neymar that it was an unbelievable offer… there would have been no other footballer earning as much as him.”
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Reports in Spain suggest that a positive first meeting took place in Ibiza, with Al-Khelaifi then flying to Sao Paulo to continue talks.
It is believed the Qatari billionaire was willing to sign Neymar at ‘any cost’ and offered the frontman a private jet to fly him back and forth from Brazil duty on top of a £34MILLION-a-year salary.
He was even set to be given a stake in a chain of hotels Al-Khelaifi is building, and told they would be named after him.
But the former Santos star – who was also strongly linked with Manchester United – instead signed a new five-year deal with Barca.
Speaking to ESPN Brazil, Ribeiro added: “Neymar considered the offer. But he chose to stay because he wants to be in Barcelona.
“He is happy at the club and in the city. I wanted him to go to PSG, but his dad pushed for him to stay.”
Neymar’s new contract contains a buyout clause of £170 in the first year, which rises to £189m in the second and then £212m for the final three.