PSG offered Neymar over $44m annual salary, says agent

Brazilian football superstar Neymar's agent has revealed that Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) offered the FC Barcelona forward a contract with a whopping 40 million euros ($44.8 million) annual salary that would have made him the highest paid footballer in the world.

Spanish media outlets reported on Wednesday that Neymar's agent Wagner Ribeiro told ESPN Brazil that PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi met Neymar and his father this summer in Ibiza for talks on joining the French side, reports Efe.

The agent explained that Al-Khelaifi tried to lure the Brazilian star through offering him a private jet to travel to join his national team, in addition to receiving a percentage of profits of an under-construction hotel series, apart from around $850,000 salary per week.

Ribeiro indicated that another meeting was held in Sao Paulo, where the French club's management promised to pay the 190 million euros ($213.2 million) buy-out clause of Neymar's contract with the Catalan club, in addition to a net annual salary of 40 million euros for five seasons.

"We held two hours of talks and Neymar was impressed. Nasser told him they had no tax issues and he would be the team's main man, which is not the case at Barcelona," Ribeiro said.

"I told Neymar that it was an unbelievable offer? there would have been no other footballer earning as much as him."

But the former Santos star, who joined the Catalan powerhouse in 2013, instead signed a new five-year deal with Barcelona.

Ribeiro added that Neymar, 24, turned down the offer and prefers to stay at Barcelona, as the Brazilian player has extended his contract with the La Liga giants until 2021.

Neymar's new contract contains a buy-out clause of 170 million pounds (around $224 million) in the first year, which rises to 189 million pounds (around $250 million) in the second and then 212 million pounds (around $280 million) for the final three.

--IANS

pur/bg