After FC Barcelona announced Wednesday that Brazilian winger Neymar had informed the club of his desire to leave, fellow Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi took to Instagram to bid his teammate farewell.
A post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi) on Aug 2, 2017 at 6:05am PDT
“It was a great pleasure to have shared all these years with you, friend Neymar,” Messi wrote. “I wish you good luck in this new stage of your life. See you.”
The brief message concluded with “Tkm,” an abbreviation of the Spanish phrase “te quiero mucho,” which means “I love you very much.”
Rumors have circulated for weeks that Neymar wants to transfer from Barcelona to French club Paris Saint-Germain, and the Spanish side’s announcement along with Messi’s Insagram post all but confirm Neymar will be a PSG player soon.
According to the Barcelona release, however, PSG will have to pay Neymar’s massive buyout clause before he’s released from his contract.
“Faced with this position, the Club has informed them they refer to the buy-out clause of his existing contract which as of 1 July totals 222 million euros which will have to be deposited in its entirety,” the release says. “The player remains under contract at FC Barcelona but with temporary permission to not take part in training sessions. “
The 25-year old Neymar is widely considered one of the most talented soccer players in the world. Since his transfer to Barcelona from Brazilian club Santos in 2013, he has scored 105 goals in all competitions, combining with Messi and Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez to form the Spanish side’s formidable “MSN” attack.
• Josh Luckenbaugh can be reached at jluckenbaugh@washingtontimes.com.
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