Chelsea attempted to sign Neymar before Brazil joined Barcelona from Santos, according to former agent Wagner Ribeiro.
The future of Neymar is again the subject of much speculation, with both Barca and Real Madrid being linked to their services in the run-up to the 2020-21 campaign.
Neymar scored 136 goals in 224 Santos games before moving to Barca in 2013, spending four seasons with the Spanish giants ahead of Paris Saint-Germain. As well as scoring nearly 300 club-level goals, the player recorded 53 strikes in 83 caps for the Brazilian National Team.
Ribeiro reported that Chelsea had tried to sign South America in 2010, but the Blues were eventually unsuccessful. “There were many calls for him. I received an official offer from Chelsea the day Neymar debuted with the Brazilian team in 2010.
“They made an offer, we studied it, but in the end, we didn’t decide anything. On that occasion, we transferred it to Neymar’s father and the player himself,” AS quotes Ribeiro as saying.
