Chelsea’s owner Todd Boehly met with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi in Paris on Tuesday. According to a report from Le Parisien, one of the topics of the meeting between two of the most influential men in European football was the feasibility of Neymar’s (31) transfer to the Blues. The Brazilian international is tied to a contract with PSG that runs until 2027 and Get Football French News reported on Monday that PSG were ready to let go of the player they paid a record-breaking €222m from Barcelona in 2017.
The outlet report that Chelsea have been showing interest in Neymar’s situation since last summer, when then-Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel was looking to reunite with the player he coached at PSG from 2018 to 2020. Boehly is reportedly a big fan of Neymar and did not see a strong desire to keep him in his Qatari counterpart. A transfer fee around the €60m mark would not be a problem for the spendthrift Premier League side, whose outlay in the winter transfer window alone came close to a record-breaking €370m. It remains to be seen whether the West London side would match Neymar’s current wages worth of €36m per year.
However, Chelsea may have an ace in the hole in their pursuit of Neymar. Le Parisien adds that the Blues are keeping a close eye on former Spain manager Luis Enrique with a view to giving him the manager’s position, thus replacing Graham Potter. Luis Enrique is of course no stranger to managing Neymar – the Brazilian won the 2015 Champions League during the Spaniards’s three year stay at the Camp Nou.
GFFN | Bastien Cheval
