Barcelona missed out on Matthijs de Ligt this summer, with the Dutchman opting to join Juventus.
"We can say the same as Neymar with De Ligt that we tried anything to sign him," Barca chief Grau explained.
"The tax situation in Italy is more advantageous."
The deal that saw Jasper Cillessen leave the Camp Nou was also discussed, with Neto arriving in return as his replacement.
"Cillessen wanted to leave because he didn't have the minutes he wanted," Grau explained.
"If he left, we wanted to see how to replace him.
"We saw what we had and we lacked experience, so we decided to sign Neto.
"The opportunity arose, but had it not then maybe we wouldn't have signed anyone."