Eric Abial has revealed that he could have resigned Neymar while working as director of football at Barcelona in 2019.
The former France defender, who was sacked by Barca in the wake of a humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League last season, claimed the arrival of Antoine Griezmann stalled the Brazilian move.
While discussions about a possible deal with PSG were reportedly ongoing, Griezmann was priced away from domestic rivals Atletico as Abidal maintained the South American superstar could have returned.
Abidal told The Telegraph: “Ten days before the end of the transfer window, I went to Paris to talk with Leonardo [PSG’s sporting director] and I was with my CEO, and we were talking about Neymar.
“I think if the CEO goes to Paris Saint-Germain, it’s because we can sign him. If we didn’t sign Griezmann before, I think 100 per cent we could have re-signed Neymar because what we needed was a winger and when Neymar was in Barcelona he was amazing.
“This is not about which player is better, it was what I thought was the position we needed at the time. The team needed a real winger. The president decided to sign Griezmann.
“One of the arguments against Neymar was that he had a court case against the club, so it’s not easy. They said he would have to stop the court process if he wanted to come back. That wasn’t my problem because I was not at the club when that dispute happened. In my view, I could sign the player, but it didn’t happen.”
Abidal and Lionel Messi were involved in a public spat over the sacking of former Barcelona manager, Ernesto Valverde, claiming Barca players of not working hard enough to save Valverde from being fired.
But Messi hit back, asking his former teammate to take full responsibility for his decision.
