Real Madrid made transfer bid to sign Neymar confirmed

Neymar has started the 2022/23 campaign in brilliant form and is looking like his old self again. The Brazilian has struggled to find his best on a consistent basis since leaving Barcelona in 2017 in a world record move, as he has had to deal with one injury problem after another. To this day, he has played his best football for the Catalan club, but if things had gone differently, it is at Real Madrid that he might have ended up.

It is easy to forget now but at point of time, Real Madrid were the favourites to sign Neymar from his then club Santos. He had enjoyed a meteoric rise in Brazil and was considered as the next big thing in football.

Ultimately, the move to Real Madrid did not end up happening though and instead, he joined their eternal rivals, Barcelona. It is at Camp Nou that Neymar went from prospect to global superstar, and formed a legendary trio alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

His run at the club abruptly came to an end though when he decided to join PSG out of the blue, a move that many fans consider to be the biggest mistake of his career.

Real Madrid’s transfer bid to sign Neymar from Santos confirmed

Florentino Perez has confirmed though Real Madrid had actually made a transfer bid to sign Neymar from Santos. As reported by 90min, the club president said:

"“I don’t know Neymar, I’ve never spoken to him on a personal level. We were interested in signing Neymar about 10 years ago. In 2011, Real Madrid made Santos an offer for Neymar. I believe it was €45m.”"

It is interesting to think how differently Neymar’s career would have gone, if he had joined Real Madrid instead of Barcelona.

Things ultimately just worked out fine for Real Madrid though, who signed Gareth Bale that summer. The Welshman helped deliver La Decima and the club would go on to win five out of the last nine Champions League titles. Maybe none of that happens if they had managed to sign Neymar ahead of Barcelona.