Neymar wants to return to Brazil before calling it a day

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ANI London [UK]
Last Updated : Apr 18 2017 | 10:57 AM IST

Barcelona star striker Neymar has ruled out leaving the La Liga giants any time soon, but has revealed that he would like to return to Brazil and join Flamengo at some point.

The Brazilian, who has been linked with moves to Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, has also committed his immediate future to Barca with a contract through to 2021 penned at Camp Nou in October 2016.

Neymar, widely tipped to capture the Ballon d'Or crown in his career, has reiterated that he will return to South America before calling it a day.

"I have a lot of desire to one day play for Flamengo, with the Maracana full, playing in the Copa Libertadores," mirror.co.uk quoted the 25-year-old as saying while speaking to a Brazilian TV channel.

He is also unlikely to make a return to his former club Santos which he left in 2013 after his relationship got strained, following the club asking FIFA to give him a six-month suspension for what they called non-compliance of contract terms during his transfer to Barcelona.

However, he maintained that he has strong sentiments towards Santos.

"I still have strong sentiments towards Santos. But they went to court against me and I still don't know why," he said.

"There is a lot the people don't know about. All that's missing is for the club to claim I wanted to score an own goal in favour of Barcelona during the [2011] Club World Cup," he added.

The star forward joined Barcelona in 2013 and has gone on to make 180 appearances for the club, netting 100 goals.

Out of 100 goals which Neymar has scored, 64 have come in La Liga, 21 in the Champions League, 14 in the Copa del Rey and one in the Spanish Supercopa. It should be noted that his first goal for the club came against Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa in 2013.

His best goal-scoring season came in 2014-15, when he netted 39 times in helping Barca to the treble under Luis Enrique.

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First Published: Apr 18 2017 | 10:03 AM IST

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