Russian giant Lokomotiv Moscow snubbed chance to sign Neymar for nearly £8m

Paris, Feb 10: World's costliest player, Paris Saint-German attacker Neymar might have moved from Barcelona to France this Summer but his career path could have been very much different if we go by Russian giants Lokomotiv Moscow's former president Nikolia Naumov's latest statement.

Neymar joined Barcelona from his boyhood club Santos in a club record deal of €57.1 million in 2013 before sealing a move to PSG this Summer for a whopping 222 million euros ($262 million), however, as per Naumov things could have been so different for the 26-year-old if the Russian giants had made a move for him back in 2009 while he was a kid at Santos.

Naumov revealed the club scouted Neymar at a youth tournament however after a lot of considerations, they decided not to pursue Brazilian because of his lean health structure including concern over his adaptive ability to survive in cold Russian environment.

Instead, they decided to promote their academy prodigy Alan Gatagov who eventually failed to live upto the potential and simply left the club just after two years, scoring only four goals.

Naumov told Sport-Express: “Firstly, he was very young at that time and we didn't know how he was going to adapt to Russia.

"He was such a small guy and he was so fragile so we decided to reject signing him."

Naumov continued: "Santos wanted 10 million euros for him, maybe more, it could have been 12 that they asked us for.

"To spend that amount on a young man from another continent would have been a big risk.

"At that time, it didn't seem any worse to put our faith in Alan Gatagov over Neymar."

The 26-year-old Brazilian in his four seasons at Barcelona had scored 105 goals winning all the major trophies, two league titles, three Copa Del Ray and one Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup each, establishing his status as one of the best players in the world.

The player also has been in a sensational form since his move to Paris this season where he already has registered 27 goals and 16 assists that too only in 26 matches over all competitions.