Here’s why Barcelona should just say ‘no’ to Neymar this summer

Barcelona officially completed the signing of Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid, making it even more important for them to end their pursuit of Neymar.

Although FC Barcelona comfortably won La Liga last season, topping the table by 11 points over Atletico Madrid with a further 19 points separating them from hated rivals Real Madrid, they probably don’t feel like the 2018-19 season was a success.

Not only did they fail to win the Copa del Rey against Valencia, but they also blew a comfortable first leg lead to Liverpool in the Champions League.

Barcelona are one of the few “treble or bust” clubs and they’ve also noticed all the aggressive moves Los Blancos have made on the transfer market this summer.

That’s why it’s no surprise to see that Barca have signed Antoine Griezmann from La Liga’s second-placed team and have also shown interest in superstars Matthijs de Ligt, Neymar and others.

Neymar remains squarely on the radar of Barcelona fans despite the Griezmann signing, as many are dreaming of an attack featuring Griezmann, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and whoever isn’t traded to PSG in a potential player swap.

Although Neymar is still one of the three best players in the world, a swap deal with PSG shouldn’t be completed by Barcelona.

Since Barca have already spent 120 million euros on Griezmann and should probably allocate the rest of their budget to positions other than attackers, a trade with PSG seems like the only realistic option.

That would involve potentially giving up some combination of Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho or Samuel Umtiti.

Barcelona would technically save wages in a swap deal if enough players were packaged to PSG, who seem desperate to get rid of a player trying to force a move out, they would suffer a blow to their depth.

Since Barcelona have their sights set on winning every trophy imaginable, sacrificing depth in exchange for Neymar doesn’t seem like the best policy.

This is especially true when they already have several difference-makers like Messi, Dembele, Griezmann and Coutinho; they don’t need to mortgage their depth for one stellar attacking player.

Furthermore, Barcelona have to be careful that they don’t alienate their young players, whom they haven’t shown enough trust in.

Nelson Semedo and Umtiti can attest to this on defense, but Malcom and Dembele are the main two players Barcelona need to do a better job of grooming into superstars.

Dembele has been mired in transfer rumors this summer, with Bayern Munich seemingly showing significant interest in him if they are unable to coax Leroy Sane away from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.

But Dembele isn’t fazed and would even reportedly prefer to stay at Barcelona if a Neymar transfer were completed.

At 22 years of age, Dembele remains one of the world’s most promising players and has the potential to be a Ballon d’Or winner one day.

His vision, dribbling skills, eye for the killer pass and distance shooting are all world class, and if he can become more consistent in front of goal, he could quickly become the team’s second-most important player behind Lionel Messi.

Of course, Dembele isn’t the only young star Barcelona should put their faith in. Malcom is another 22-year-old attacking player who can excel at a wide variety of positions, but is mostly used as a wide man.

Sadly, the word “used” has to be defined loosely with regards to Malcom’s 2018-19 campaign for La Blaugrana, as the club only gave him 15 appearances.

Malcom made more appearances off the bench than he did as a starter, failing to impress after being one of Ligue 1’s top players in 2017-18.

Both Dembele and Malcom have shown world-class potential before going to Barcelona and are still just 22.

Signing Neymar and displacing both starting-caliber wingers sends the wrong message to young players looking to sign to Barcelona, especially since Dembele has always looked at Barca as his favorite club.

Real have already been getting the leg up on signing promising young attacking players recently, but, more to the point, it would sting to see these two players shining elsewhere.

Barcelona don’t want to kick themselves for missing out, especially since Neymar is five years older (and much more expensive) than both.

With Neymar, there’s also an important elephant in the room. The rape investigation against him is still ongoing, as the police have asked for more time to investigate what has been a difficult case that has been termed a “huge mess.”

This alone should be a sufficient red flag for Barcelona, since they would at least want to wait until this investigation is resolved before even contemplating signing the player.

Any concerns about Neymar’s health or locker room issues in PSG are irrelevant in this case, since Neymar has shown that he can work well with Suarez and Messi. Likewise, Dembele is just as big of an injury risk of Neymar, so there’s no issue there.

There’s no doubt that Neymar can help Barcelona greatly, but so can the players who would head back the other way (or be relegated to bench duties).

The likes of Dembele, Malcom, and Coutinho are more valuable if they get playing time, showcasing themselves, excel, and fetch higher transfer offers than they would if they were packaged for one 27-year-old player in the midst of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Above all else, Barcelona already have four world-class stars in Coutinho, Dembele, Griezmann, and Messi and one more potentially in the waiting in Malcom.

Neymar is the definition of surplus goods, and Barca should no longer pursue a reunion with one of the world’s top three players, as difficult as that sounds.