Paris Saint-Germain were so keen to land Barcelona superstar Neymar as summer replacement for the departing free agent Zlatan Ibrahimovic they were prepared to pay his €190m release clause, but not some of the other costs involved,L'Equipe has revealed.
It is said that PSG were planning for Ibrahimovic's exit from the start of the 2015/16 with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, and that they wanted someone of similar standing to fill that huge void. The initial hope was apparently to land Lionel Messi, but it proved impossible.
The French champions are believed to have met with Neymar's people in Sao Paulo in April.
But while PSG were ready to trigger the Brazilian's release clause, as agent Wagner Ribeiro claimed last month and which would have set a huge new world transfer record, they were not prepared to pay €25m in annual wages or settle a one-off €45m debt that was demanded by the player.
Neymar was also alleged to be in talks to join Manchester United but has since agreed (July) and signed (last week) a new five-year contract at Barcelona that has put his earnings on a similar level to Messi's - it is expected that Messi himself will sign a new and improved contract sooner rather than later.
Neymar's new release clause has jumped to €200m for the first year of his new deal, and will increase to €222m for the second and then up further to €250m for the final three to 2021.
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