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Report: Neymar's entourage took 1st step to reopen talks with PSG

Albert Gea / Reuters

Neymar's retinue is reportedly responsible for the biggest story of the summer transfer window.

According to RMC Sport's and BFMTV's Mohamed Bouhafsi, it was Neymar's entourage who contacted Paris Saint-Germain and took the first step to reopen discussions between the parties. Les Parisiens are apparently preparing to hold talks over a world-record €222-million transfer that would see the French club buy the Brazilian phenom from Barcelona, as an appointment is scheduled involving Neymar's father and PSG's sporting director, Antero Henrique.

Barcelona took part in a training session at the Red Bull Training Facility on Thursday and, per Mundo Deportivo's Roger Torello, Neymar was the last one to leave the training session. Asked how he was, the product of Santos Futebol Clube replied: "I'm fine."

Barcelona's vice-president, Jordi Mestre, said he's "200 percent" certain that Neymar will stay. The Blaugrana's president, Josep Bartomeu, declared: "He is not on the market."

Following the closure of last year's summer transfer window, Neymar's agent, Wagner Ribeiro, admitted that his client was "very close to PSG," saying: "He would have earned €40 million a year, free."

As Tim Vickery explained while speaking on BBC 5 live Sport, Neymar isn't the outstanding player at Barcelona, and the FIFA World Player of the Year award, which evolved into The Best FIFA Men's Player, is "an absolute obsession in Brazil."

Five Brazilians won the honour on eight different occasions from 1994 until 2007.

"You can't be FIFA World Player of the Year if you're not even the outstanding player in your own team," Vickery stated, adding that he thinks it's no coincidence that the speculation emerged after Lionel Messi put pen to paper on a new contract with the Catalan club.

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