Text messages sent from Neymar to former colleagues at Barcelona helped convince Frenkie De Jong to reject Paris Saint-German and sign for the Catalan club.
According to Spanish daily AS , De Jong was shown a series of messages from the Brazil star as he weighed up whether to leave Ajax for Paris or Barcelona .
In the messages Neymar reportedly complained about the level of competition PSG face in France, the combativeness of their Ligue 1 rivals and the weather, while he admitted he had made a mistake in leaving Barcelona.
De Jong had spoken to both PSG and Manchester City , but decided to shun their advances and signed a contract with the Spanish champions earlier this week.
Barcelona paid Ajax around £70million for De Jong's services and the Dutch international will head to Camp Nou in the summer.
At his unveiling on Wednesday, the 21-year-old revealed he had held talks with City and PSG, and Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has accused Pep Guardiola of breaking the rules in his bid to land the Dutchman.
"Maybe if you talk to a player with a contract with another team," Valverde said.
"That can not be done, you can not talk to a player who has a contract.
"Recognize that you've done that ... it's not in my code.
"Say, everyone has their way of acting."
shray_srivastava
95
The level of competition in Ligue 1 is probably the worst when compared to the Top 5 leagues, The matter of fact that he was explained the disadvantages of joining PSG & Ligue 1, & just one day after PSG thumped an established club like Giungamp 9-0 surely sealed De Jong's fate & convinced him of the fact that, Ligue 1 is similar to Eridivise, & PSG has no competitors. 🔵🔴
Mightyreyes8
51
How did Neymar Jr received Frenkie De Jong cell numbers? What are the dates & time of those messages? Neymar is under contract with PSG & is not required to do any business on his Club behalf. Please allow him to rest peacefully from this latest injury. Such harrassment is an injustice to natural commonsense.