Barcelona Might Go For Verratti In Incredible Swap Deal
Reuters / Christian Hartmann
After a fairly disappointing season, Barcelona are looking to revamp their squad, and especially strengthen their midfield. As a part of this, an incredible deal they could make includes swapping Neymar Jr. for Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti.
Verratti has been linked with Barcelona for quite some time now, especially after his performance against them in the Champions League Round of 16 first-leg in Paris. The Italian’s agent added weight to the rumours by saying the midfielder wanted to win bigger titles, like the Champions League.
PSG’s President Nasser Al-Khelaifi has repeatedly stated that the Italy international isn’t for sale. This might prompt the Catalan giants to offer the Ligue 1 club a stunning swap deal, which would include Neymar going the other way, Yahoo Sports reported.
Reuters / Benoit Tessier
Neymar orchestrated the comeback against PSG in the second leg, but had a slow start to the season. As always, the flamboyant star has been linked to various clubs, though it seemed unlikely he would move. But the La Liga giants are looking to rebuild under a new manager next season, and he might not have the Brazilian winger in his plans.
The Parisian club have also had a bad season as per their usual standards. They could not win the French league title for a 5th consecutive time, surrendering the trophy to AS Monaco.
PSG haven’t looked good enough to win the Champions League recently either, despite having a star-studded line-up. They have been looking to bag Neymar for some time now, which might boost their hopes of fighting for major silverware.
Verratti would be a wonderful addition to Barca’s midfield, which has not yet recovered from Xavi’s exit. Yet, it would be unwise and unlikely to let go of a proven match-winner like Neymar for midfield reinforcements like Verratti.
Moreover, the former Santos forward would also not want to move to France, where the title always seem PSG’s to lose. He would much rather move to England, where the Premier League is extremely challenging.