Bid for Neymar was too high: Florentino Perez

Florentino Perez, Real Madrid president, has said that the club were asked to shell out more than £130 million to bring Neymar to the Bernabeu.

Madrid was in the running for Neymar but eventually lost out to arch-rivals Barcelona. Perez has expressed his deep felt admiration for the 21-year-old Brazilian ace and has admitted that he was keen on signing the player. Making a deal with the striker meant that they would have to ultimately top the world-record transfer fee they paid for Cristiano Ronaldo. Now with Neymar out of reach, Madrid is leaving no stones unturned to ensure that Ronaldo stays with the club.

“Three years ago we had the chance to sign Neymar and we tried to take advantage of it. Then Santos didn’t allow him to leave,” said Perez during a wide-ranging interview with Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. “He seems a magnificent player to me. If I could’ve signed him without changing the structure of the club, I would’ve done it, but there were a lot of conditions. It would have come out at more than £130 million for us. I’ve no idea how much Barcelona have paid.”

Perez, with the hopes of being re-elected as the president of the club, is being taciturn regarding which player will come in and which player will be leaving. When asked about his thoughts on the likely replacement for outgoing coach Jose Mourinho, he maintained the same reluctance to divulge information.

Mourinho has led the club to three trophies during his tenure, but unfortunately his time with the club has been laced with a series of controversial incidents that contributed to negative publicity.