REVEALED: Leo Messi wanted Barcelona to sign this player

Robin Bairner

23 Oct 2025 13:30 BST
4 min read

Lionel Messi, FC Barcelona — © IMAGO/FootballTransfers

Lionel Messi was desperate for Barcelona to re-sign Neymar after the Brazilian left for PSG, former vice-president of sport Jordi Mestre has revealed.

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Neymar became the world’s most expensive player in 2017 when he moved to the Parc des Princes side in a record-shattering €222 million deal that remains the biggest transfer of all-time.

There were persistent rumours that the Brazil international star was not happy with life in Paris, and it has now been revealed that Messi was pushing Barcelona to make a move to recapture the flair-packed winger, who now plays for Santos.

Current ETV

Neymar

AM, M, F (C)

Santos

Neymar

AM, M, F (C)

Santos

ETV Range

€3.3M - €5M

Mestre explained to the Sports360 Podcast: “I really regret that things didn’t work out with Neymar, because he was an extraordinary player. In our plans, he was supposed to be, in a way, Leo’s successor.

“Leo wanted him back - he told me himself: ‘I want him to come back.’ And I understand that, because in one-on-one situations, if Leo had to do everything himself, it was one thing, but if it was Leo and Neymar together, everything changed.”

© IMAGO - Neymar and Messi in action for Barcelona

'Neymar will 200% stay at Barcelona' - what went wrong?

Mestre has become infamous in the Neymar transfer saga for saying that the Brazilian was “200% staying” and he has now explained his comment.

He said: “At that time, not even the players knew he was leaving. I spoke with a very important player on the team who told me they’d been at Leo Messi’s wedding sitting at the same table as Neymar, and he never mentioned he was going. That’s why I said I was 200 percent sure he’d stay.

“Later on, I understood how everything worked with Pini Zahavi involved in the operation. And we all know who Pini is very close friends with.”

While Mestre did not make it implicitly clear who he is referring to with regards the relationship of superagent Zahavi, it is likely that this was a nod to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

Messi, meanwhile, would later join Neymar at Parc des Princes, but along with Kylian Mbappe, they were never able to lead PSG to the Champions League title the club craved.

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