Barcelona transfer news: Iniesta on Neymar return, Costa confident of Griezmann stay and more, 23rd March 2018
Andres Iniesta on Neymar's potential return to Barcelona
The Brazilian joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for a world-record fee of €222 million last summer. However, rumours of a potential return or a move to arch-rivals Real Madrid are already doing the rounds just under a year. The same question was put forth to Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta in a radio show El Larguero and the 33-year old said:
"To be honest, Neymar's future is not something I'm thinking about. Normally, when you leave somewhere it's difficult to go back. For that reason, it would surprise me more if he returned rather than going to another team, but we will see."
"If they sign him, Madrid would land one of the best in the world. But we would still have a squad which I consider better."
Thus, Iniesta believes it would be difficult for Neymar to return to Camp Nou and does not express worry in case the Brazilian joins Madrid. While the current team definitely has more balance since Neymar left, he is a top player and could hurt Barcelona both domestically and in Europe.
Diego Costa is confident Antoine Griezmann will stay next season
The Frenchman has been on the wanted list of Barcelona and Manchester United for quite some time now. In the previous summer, he almost joined Manchester United before signing a lucrative contract to stay put in Spain.
While he is being tipped to leave this summer to either of the clubs, his strike partner since January, Diego Costa, believes the forward will not go anywhere. The former Chelsea striker said:
"He knows that we want him, that he is a very important player. He is still with us and he has not told me he is going yet. I would be happy for him to stay, everyone has to look for the best for themselves but, in my opinion, the best for him is to stay."
"He called me every day to tell me to return to Atletico and now he’s not going to leave me. That cannot be, he is going to stay."
One one side it could just be a hopeful expectation from Costa. On the other hand, it can be considered that Griezmann wanted a reliable striker at Atletico before he leaves, therefore, he pushed the Spaniard to return. Either way, this transfer saga looks far from over.
Christian Eriksen hands Barcelona a tran boost
The Dane is one of the most important players in Mauricio Pochettino's side with his vision, goals and technique making him the creative force at Tottenham. The midfielder trialled for Barcelona as a teenager before joining Ajax and now, the Blaugrana are once again looking at the player.
The 26-year old openly spoke about Tottenham's improvements on one side while underlining his dreams. He said:
"To be honest, I do not think about [interest from elsewhere]. You play football in the present, but you also have dreams.Dreams are one thing, but they are only realistic when [an offer] is on the table. Right now, most people are very happy at Tottenham and I am also."
"All footballers would like to win the Premier League or the Champions League or FA Cup. If you think where Tottenham was when I came to where we are now. Now people look at us as title candidates whereas previously we had to fight to get into the top four and even the top six. We may have to build and build to become capable of winning a trophy but we are on the way the right track."
Thus, Eriksen is definitely happy in North London but aspires to fulfil his dreams of possibly playing for some of Europe's top clubs. He rightfully mentions an offer needs to be made first and also, negotiating with Tottenham will prove to be a tough task for Barcelona or any other club as Real Madrid and Manchester City have found out in recent years.