'Barcelona and Real Madrid are great clubs, but my heart was with Barca' says new-boy Neymar
'Barcelona and Real Madrid are great clubs, but my heart was with Barca' says new-boy Neymar
Catalans unveil £48m striker who snubbed arch-rivals PLUS Brazil ace almost in tears at thought of playing alongside Messi
"Dream come true": Neymar was greeted by thousands of fans at the Nou Camp
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The thought of playing alongside Lionel Messi has Neymar feeling like
"one of the luckiest men in the world" after the Brazilian committed
five years of his career to Barcelona.
The 21-year-old striker
flew to Barcelona this morning to sign a five-year contract with the
Catalan giants, with 57million euros (£48,600,000) going to Santos nine
days after a preliminary agreement between the clubs was made public.
After
posing for photographers and passing a two-part medical at Barca's
offices, Neymar put pen to paper on a deal running through to June 2018
in the presence of president Sandro Rosell, vice-president Josep Maria
Bartomeu and sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta. Thumb-thing special: Barca are splashing £48.6m on Neymar
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Thousands of fans and hundreds of journalists awaited
Neymar's arrival on the Camp Nou pitch and, after parading his ball
skills and the new Blaugrana shirt, the Brazilian admitted treading the
turf where Argentinian forward Messi has developed into the envy of
world football was overwhelming.
He told fcbarcelona.es: "The
thrill of being cheered when I entered the Nou Camp... it was hard not
to cry. My dream has come true.
"I've never worried about being the best in the world. The best is already here and that's Messi.
"I'm
one of the luckiest men in the world to be able to play with him and
it's an honour. I'm very happy to be realising my life's dream.
"To have the opportunity to play with great players I admire
like Messi, Xavi and (Andres) Iniesta... I've begun a new stage of my
life and I'm going to be very happy and achieve a lot."
Before his
decision to join Barca became public, it had been established that
Santos had received a similar financial offer from their fierce rivals
Real Madrid.
It then fell to the player to end constant speculation over his preferred destination.
Neymar added: "Barca and Madrid are two great clubs. I was happy that both wanted me, but my heart was with Barca.
"It
was a family decision but I had the final word, and none of us were
motivated by money. I don't work for the money and I don't worry about
the numbers.
"I'm going to adapt really quickly to European football, so I can help the Barca cause."
A
Brazil international since 2010, Neymar has already scored 20 goals for
the Selecao and was representing his country in a 2-2 friendly draw
against England at the Maracana Stadium only hours before flying to
Europe. Nou regrets: Money didn't swing Neymar's decision of Barca over Real
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And he revealed that his national team-mate Dani Alves, a
wing-back for the Spanish champions, played a role in convincing him to
sign.
"Alves was one of the people who encouraged me to come and he's always said good things about the place," he added.
"I'll
try to improve my Catalan, I speak better Catalan than Castilian. I
will try to adapt quickly so that I can relax and just play football."
The
deal that brought Neymar to Spain includes an agreement to play two
friendlies against Santos, one of which will be played at the Nou Camp.
It was also revealed that the player's contract has a buy-out clause set at 190m euros (£162m).
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