Barca players don’t want Wijnaldum, they want Neymar

At the beginning, it seemed like a perfectly normal and logical news: a Dutch player, a Champions League winner will switch to another big club, to play for his former National team coach, for free. It was not official, but everything pointed into that direction: Georginio Wijnaldum was not happy with the contract offer from Liverpool and decided to leave in June as a free agent. Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman thinks highly of the player, used to work with him and he would be a cheaper option, since there will be no transfer fee. So what happened between then and now, because, according to the reliable Spanish reports, Barca’s dressing room is not happy that Wijnaldum is coming?

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Mundo Deportivo is writing that the players actually don’t have nothing against Wijnaldum, but they would rather see Neymar coming back to the club. Also, they think it’s better to get one great player (Neymar), than two good ones - Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay, another Koeman’s Dutchman who is coming for free from Lyon. It is understood that the Barcelona squad is ‘still waiting’ and ‘dreaming’ of the day Neymar returns to the Camp Nou as they see him as a ‘great help’ in their quest to win future Champions League titles. It is no secret that Lionel Messi and Neymar are great friends and that the Argentinian would love to play with the Brazilian again.

And then, there is the matter of money. A 31-years old player didn’t get a satisfactory offer from Liverpool and he would command a heafty wage, and for financially troubled Barcelona, maybe it would be much wiser to go with the younger player at the position, possible one of their own. And Sky Sports reports that Barcelona is ready to promote Ilaix Moriba into the first team on a regular basis. President Laporta’s new officials are discussing with Ronald Koeman’s technical staff whether to promote the 18-year-old Moriba permanently, following his impressive first-team breakthrough this season.