Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has encouraged Neymar to make a move to the Santiago Bernabeu after claiming the former Barcelona star would have a better chance of winning the Ballon D’Or with Los Blancos than at Paris Saint-Germain.
The Brazil international only moved to the Ligue 1 giants in the summer for a €222m [£193m, $260m] world record transfer fee.
Neymar, 25, has since enjoyed an impressive start to life at PSG, scoring 15 goals and providing 11 assists in 18 appearances.
However, it has been said that the former Barcelona star is not completely happy at the Ligue 1 side.
Some reports in Spain have even claimed that Real president Florentino Perez recently met the player’s father to discuss a potential future move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Perez has added fuel to the saga in some interviews held after Cristiano Ronaldo won his fifth Ballon d’Or award on Thursday (7 December), beating Lionel Messi and Neymar himself.
“Being at Madrid would make it easier [for Neymar] to win the Ballon d’Or. Madrid is a club that gives big players what they need. That’s what I think. I don’t know how many Ballon d’Or winners PSG have had. I think very few because at PSG are a club which has grown a lot recently but all clubs have the right to want Ballon d’Or winners in their squad,” Perez said to Cadena Ser while pointing out that Real already tried to sign him from Santos before the player decided instead to move to Barcelona in the summer of 2013.
“We will see. Everyone knew that I wanted to sign him at some point [before he joined Barcelona from Santos]. Football is like that. Sometimes you can do some things and sometimes you can’t. But we are happy with Cristiano Ronaldo. I think that he is the heir to Alfredo Di Stefano, it’s an honour to count on a player as good as him.”
Neymar’s teammate Kylian Mbappe became the youngest player to appear in the top 10 of the Ballon D’or rankings after ending in 7th place.
Real were also linked with his services in the summer but asked whether he regrets missing out on the France international, Perez added to Cope: “Mbappe is 18 years old. Let’s allow him to develop and see how far he goes. We already have the best players.”
Pressed whether he would consider bringing Neymar to the club while Mbappe continues his development, Perez added: “It’s not a bad idea. We can’t predict the future. Today we are happy with what we have. Madrid always look for the best. If someday Neymar’s development converges with the interests of Madrid it could be. If not, we will have another as good or better than Neymar. “
