Reports: Barcelona set to sell superstar as part of Marco Verratti swap deal

What’s the story?

With Barcelona vehement in their pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti and the Parisian club’s President, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, repeatedly stating that he isn’t for sale, Yahoo Sports France reports that the Catalan club may be preprared to sell Neymar as part of a stunning swap deal to make sure Verratti dons the blaugrana jersey next summer.

In case you didn’t know

Neymar, of course, was at the heart of that memorable come-from-behind victory against PSG in the round-of-16 stage of the UEFA Champions League but hasn’t shone since. Considering his indifferent form before that as well, there has been talk in Barcelona of the club moving the player on – with Manchester United the most linked-to destination. This new development, of course, comes out of the blue

The heart of the matter

With PSG abdicating the French throne to the young upstarts of Monaco, Al-Khelaifi will be desperate to regain control of what he feels should be a trophy that’s in the bag every year. Besides, the French giants have not come any closer to their stated desire of becoming champions of Europe. Long time admirers of the Brazilian megastar, this may just be the motivaition the Parisian’s need to let go of their Italian jewel. Or so the Catalans will hope.

Video

Here’s Verratti running the show against Barcelona in the home leg of that famous match:

Author’s Take

Acquiring Marco Verratti appears to be a no-brainer for Barcelona, he is exactly the kind of person they need in the middle of the park for them to regain the dominance of the Pep-glory-years. I’ve also earlier advocated the sale of Neymar in an earlier piece on the tactical shifts Barcelona need to make for next season. Therefore on the face of it this to me looks a decent deal – except for one thing.

But PSG is far from the ideal destination for the Brazilian captain.

Arguably the third most valuable player in the world (after those two) Neymar should be looking at spending the prime of his years in challenging environments across the top leagues in Spain or England – that is the way he can cement his legacy as a true great of the game. Besides, his current value far exceeds that of Marco Verratti so any offer for such a swap should come from PSG with Verratti + a considerable amount of money and not the other way around.