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Hello! Are Neymar and Barcelona getting back together? Stranger things have happened.
On the way:
Back To Barca? Neymar in discussions about remarkable return
(Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images)
I’ll tell you one person who doesn’t believe that Neymar is finished as a tour de force: Romario.
Here’s what Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winner said only last month about lightning striking twice for Brazil in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026: “If we don’t play Neymar, it will be very difficult. If he doesn’t play, we won’t win.” Simple as that.
I’m not convinced the latter-day version of Neymar carries his country that far but Romario’s affection for him speaks to the esteem in which Sao Paulo’s finest is held back home. Neymar might be into his thirties. He might be coming off a major ACL lay-off. He might have wasted a couple of years of his prime in Saudi Arabia. But he’s ever the great hope.
And who, in any case, is to say that Neymar is spent at the very top? Not Barcelona, who, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, are more than a little tempted to give the forward another whirl at Camp Nou. This isn’t the bright-eyed kid they once paid over £70m ($88m) to sign. This would be Barca attempting to stoke the embers of brilliance for a final time; an icon chasing a fairytale.
Honestly? I can see the logic. Pol Ballus has been mulling it over here. Barca aren’t remotely cash-rich. Neymar is in his most affordable state for over a decade. In rude health, he’d do bits. Worth a little gamble? I’d say so. And so would Romario, another of Barca’s old magicians.
What are his options?
Neymar’s career has been in flux. His wildly expensive contract with Al Hilal in Saudi was severed by mutual consent last month, leading him back to his original club, Santos in Brazil. He’s been the equivalent of returning royalty there. TAFC wrote about rival players queuing up for photos with him at the end of his first Santos game.
He proved he can still turn it on by scoring direct from a corner, a super ‘olimpico’, last weekend and, at anything close to his best, Neymar is a cut above the Brazilian leagues. His contract with Santos is very short too. By the start of the 2025-26 European season, it will be over.
Potentially, Neymar re-signs and stays put. But if he is to be the talisman for Brazil’s World Cup next year — surely his last — then playing in Europe will hone him more thoroughly. Playing for Barca, who are presently in the mix for a treble of La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, is a bit of a dream ticket.
He and Barca’s hierarchy have spoken about it. The notion is going to bubble away over the coming months. And if it’s not Barca, perhaps he might find another calling on their side of the Atlantic because, as Jack Lang writes, Neymar’s powers deserve an appropriate send-off. Whether that will be Romario’s dream World Cup scenario is another matter entirely.
News round-up
- La Liga’s head honcho, Javier Tebas, isn’t scared of speaking his mind. Yesterday brought a scathing attack from him on Manchester City. He claimed City bending financial rules was like the infamous bankruptcy of U.S. energy firm Enron in 2001 (a historical reference you won’t have expected to read in TAFC). City have not responded.
- More on Monday’s jousting between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. Jose Mourinho has been given a four-match ban for remarks made after the match; two for his jibe about Galatasaray’s bench behaving “like monkeys”, and two for a sly dig at Turkish referees.
- Liverpool posted a pre-tax loss of £57m in the 2023-24 season, according to their latest accounts. A payout of almost £10m to Jurgen Klopp and his backroom staff contributed to the deficit.
- Two academy players at English Championship club Queens Park Rangers have been arrested on suspicion of voyeurism. The allegations relate to an incident in a London nightclub.
- An internal rift led Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to suspend his Belgium career last year. But after a change of boss, he’s back in the fold.
- This has been a tricky transfer but Vitor Roque is leaving Barca for Palmeiras in Brazil. A £21m fee will turn a profit on the striker.
- Figures released by U.S. Soccer reveal that former USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski earned a higher salary in his last nine months in the job than USMNT equivalent Gregg Berhalter.
World Cup concerns: U.S. visa policy and waiting times set to be roadblocks for fans
(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Back to the World Cup Neymar is targeting. For a certain period of time, any host nation must feel as if the tournament they are staging is a world away. The United States, Canada and Mexico secured the 2026 edition in 2018. Saudi Arabia has a decade to mobilise for 2034.
Then you blink and the curtain-raiser is coming down the track. Suddenly, 2026 is just around the corner. And reading Adam Crafton’s investigation into the organisation of it this morning, logistics are causing more consternation.
Virtually every World Cup generates some sort of ‘will it be ready in time?’ narrative and, ultimately, all of them are. But Adam has highlighted worries about U.S. visa policies and waiting times which could, in theory, prevent legitimate access to the country for next year’s finals.
In Colombia, for instance, some U.S. embassy visa interviews are taking 700 days. The World Cup kicks off in 468. The log jam won’t affect the key stakeholders (players, coaches, officials etc) but it could hinder fans — and we’re about to find out whether promises to world governing body FIFA that all will be fine are worth the oxygen used to give them.
Around TAFC
- Philipp Lahm was a full-back with class in his feet and a high IQ in his head, an incredibly bright tactician. This column by him on Bayern Munich and Vincent Kompany is ace — especially his thoughts on why it pays for any coach of Bayern to have a credible track record as a player.
- Andy Mitten went to Turkey to interview Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about his latest coaching role at Besiktas. Manchester United came up too, and this quote about their strife stood out: “An issue is that the manager plays with the previous manager’s players.” Very true.
- Leicester City went down 2-0 at West Ham United last night, which means that under Ruud van Nistelrooy it’s 16 games played, 12 games lost. His fault, or the club’s?
- A person getting a haircut in the home end (yes, really), Barcelona and Mallorca fans turning up in random away ends… Manchester City’s method of allocating tickets is upsetting their regulars.
- Here’s a little quirk: Preston North End and Burnley first met in 1888 and have played each other 140 times, but never once in the FA Cup — until tomorrow.
- Most clicked in yesterday’s TAFC: referees and conspiracy theories.
Quiz question
With it being another FA Cup weekend in England, we want you to put these events in order, from oldest to most recent:
A) Arsenal’s most recent appearance in the fifth round, B) both semi-finals played at Wembley Stadium for the first time, C) Ashley Cole’s final appearance in the competition, D) the last time an English manager won the cup and E) the last time a team from outside the top flight claimed it.
Answers here later today and in Monday’s TAFC.
Catch a match
(Selected games, times ET/UK)
Friday: German Bundesliga: Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich, 2.30pm/7.30pm — ESPN+/Sky Sports.
Saturday: FA Cup fifth round: Manchester City vs Plymouth Argyle, 12.45pm/5.45pm — ESPN+/ITV; La Liga (both ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports): Real Betis vs Real Madrid, 12.30pm/5.30pm; Atletico Madrid vs Athletic Club, 3pm/8pm; Serie A: Napoli vs Inter, 12pm/5pm — Paramount+, Fubo/OneFootball.
MLS: Charlotte vs Atlanta United, 2.15pm/7.15pm — MLS Season Pass, Fox Sports, Fubo/Apple TV; LAFC vs New York City FC, 10.30pm/3.30am — MLS Season Pass/Apple TV.
Sunday: FA Cup fifth round: Newcastle United vs Brighton, 8.45am/1.45pm — ESPN+/ITV; Manchester United vs Fulham, 11.30am/4.30pm — ESPN+/BBC One; La Liga: Barcelona vs Real Sociedad, 10.15am/3.15pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports; Serie A: Milan vs Lazio, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+, Fubo/TNT Sports, OneFootball; MLS (both MLS Season Pass/Apple TV): Vancouver Whitecaps vs LA Galaxy, 5pm/10pm; Houston Dynamo vs Inter Miami, 7pm/12am.
And finally…
(Matthew Ashton/EMPICS via Getty Images)
If you’re Scottish, Hugh Dallas’ name brings to mind the uncomfortable image of him with blood streaming down his face after he was hit by a coin thrown from the crowd during an Old Firm derby between Celtic and Rangers in 1999 (above).
If you’re American, you’re more likely to think of him as the referee who missed the most blatant handball (and therefore, penalty award) when the USMNT lost to Germany in the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup (below).
He’s 67 now but he’s a long way from being put out to grass — because this week, he was given the job of managing England’s top referees for the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). He obviously likes a quiet life.
(Top photo: LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
