Neymar to make Barca debut against Santos

Barcelona’s latest superstar signing Neymar looks set to make his debut against his old club Santos, after Barca announced today that the Brazilian side will be their opponents for the annual Joan Gamper trophy match.

“Santos will be the opponent for the Joan Gamper trophy that will be played on August 2 at 21.30 at the Camp Nou,” said a statement on the Barca website.

The Catalans hectic pre-season schedule gets underway against Polish side Lechia Gdansk on July 20 but Neymar is not due to meet up with his new colleagues until July 29 because of Confederations Cup duties.

The friendly is part of the deal between the clubs that brought the 21-year-old to Barca last month, with another match to be played between the two in Brazil at a later date.

Neymar scored 136 goals in 225 games for Santos during his five seasons at the club and also guided them to their first Copa Libertadores success for 48 years back in 2011.