Luis Suarez has revealed that Neymar was advised by both the Uruguay striker and Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona when Paris Saint-Germain came knocking in the summer of 2017.
PSG triggered Neymar’s buyout clause to put an end to the so-called ‘MSN’ – one of the finest attacking tridents in football history.
“For us Messi was the best in the world and for me Neymar was the second best, but they helped me win the Golden Boot,” Suarez told Placar.
“I will always be grateful. It’s further proof that three stars together can play in the same team with the aim of winning for the team, not individually. And I think that’s what made us better and good teammates.
“If Neymar had stayed at Barcelona, he would have won a Ballon d’Or for sure. I didn’t really like talking about it, but there came a time when it was already a big thing, so we went to talk to Neymar and said, ‘Ney, if you want to win everything stay here with us.’
“We, as friends, advised him to stay, but it’s his decision, his family’s decision. We said: ‘Neymar, England is better. [Manchester] City, [for example]. Football will be better there. But in France?'”
Suarez went on to explain that he had to make certain compromises in order to gel with Neymar and Messi upfront.
“I told [Messi and Neymar] I was coming to [Barcelona] to win, to triumph and achieve important things,” Suarez added.
“It was not enough for me to argue with Neymar about who will take the penalties, nor will I dispute with Messi to take the free-kicks.
“Off the field, when we got together to drink mate -Neymar didn’t drink mate-, but when Messi and I were drinking mate and he came to sit down, we talked about all kinds of things.”