A reunion with Barcelona seemed inevitable in the past months for Neymar but the present circumstances have reportedly forced the Spanish giants to re-adjust their priorities. Reports from Spain indicated that the Catalans could postpone the transfer talks on the Paris Saint-Germain ace to focus on more pressing issues.
For one, Barcelona will need to balance the financial books first as the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the loss of revenues since the games were suspended in March. The club already admitted missing out on ticket sales and other income streams with the season still hanging in limbo.
The mission to bring Neymar back from Paris will have to wait, and according to The Daily Mail, the Spanish side will try to resume talks on the deal in late July in the hope of a better negotiating environment with PSG.
The publication pointed to Spanish-language Sport as the source of its information.
It is believed that the Parisians would be more flexible in the discussion to release the South American superstar in the next few months. There were suggestions that Barcelona will need to put together an offer that will convince PSG to restart the talks.
The report said the deal will likely move forward if the Catalans can tempt PSG to a swap of players that could see Antoine Griezmann returning to France plus a few more of the Barca players to be made available for PSG's picking. In exchange, Neymar will be free to rejoin the Spaniards and likely at a discounted price.
In a related report, The Sun said Barcelona could be prioritizing the signing of other players first before revisiting the complicated Neymar business.
Supposedly, the team is looking to secure first the transfer of Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan and when it's done, the next on the list is to win the signature of Miralem Pjanic. Martinez, in particular, is thought to be the focus of Barca's energy and resources in the next transfer window.
The young Argentine is deemed perfect to complement the style of play of his compatriot Lionel Messi, which explains the club's keen interest. For Barcelona, Martinez is the future and likely will become one of the key players when Messi retires from the game.
Neymar, however, remains on the radar of Barcelona and the reported decision to postpone his signing is just to make sure that the deal will not dry up the club's coffers.
Admittedly though, there were ramblings in Camp Nou on the likelihood that the Brazilian will soon be back. Some of the issues being weighed on are Neymar's late-night partying and the lingering sentiments on the striker's controversial exit from the team in 2017.
