Former PSG director reveals the club wanted to sign Neymar in 2011

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Paris, Nov 1: Former Paris Saint-German sporting director Leonardo in a surprising revelation has claimed that the French side tried to sign their world record signing Neymar earlier in 2011, however, the deal could not be completed then.

Leonardo suggested, the Brazilian, who completed a 222 million euros ($262 million) signing from Barcelona this Summer for a world-record transfer fee, had been a target for the French club for last six year and before Barcelona, when he was the director of the club in 2011, approached Neymar's former club Santos for a deal but all went in vain.

He told Canal Plus: “We spoke with Neymar in 2011.

“He was already someone that we saw getting to the level that he is at today, but the plan was for him to stay in Brazil until 2014.”

Neymar eventually left Santos for Barcelona in 2013 before signing for Parc des Princes this year and Leonardo claimed that the move has been a part of a big project, as PSG is planning for a team not just for a single personnel.

He added: “It’s great because we’re talking about a charismatic player, a very good player and one who is a bit of a movie star.

“Managing all of that is very important. The club must remain the strongest regardless of whether you are dealing with Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo. The club must be respected as an institution and it is the club who will guide the project, not Neymar.”

Leonardo, who is now a manager at Turkish side Antalyaspor, also suggested that another of PSG's best transfer nearly did not occur as he acknowledged that the club in 2012 was keen to sign Luka Modric from Tottenham. But instead, choose to sign their current star player Marco Verratti from Pescara only after the Modric deal collapsed.

Leonardo added: “At that moment we were trying to get Modric signed.

“It was not possible because we had signed Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Modric were a bit too much.

“So we turned to something more feasible and we were all convinced about Verratti.”