Barcelona To Bid For $44M Premier League Striker Who Idolizes Neymar: Report

FC Barcelona reportedly are planning to sign Brazilian forward Richarlison, who currently plays for Everton and idolizes Neymar.

Neymar has been one of Barcelona’s top targets ahead of the summer transfer window along with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez. Neymar, who played for Barcelona for four seasons between 2013 and 2017, moved to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for a world-record fee in the middle of the pre-season in 2017.

Even though the Brazilian has tasted success in Paris, having won three straight Ligue 1 titles, he has been unhappy and has expressed his desire to return to Spain. Last summer, Barcelona came close to re-signing Neymar but the deal fell through in the last minutes. Even this summer, Neymar’s return to Nou Camp looks unlikely because the French side has demanded $196 million in cash for the star forward.

Since the coronavirus pandemic has created a major financial impact, Barca cannot afford $196 million, let alone paying in cash. Post Neymar’s departure from Spain in 2017, Barcelona seeking his replacements ended up signing Liverpool’s Phillipe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele from Dortmund. Unfortunately, both the expensive signings turned out to be nothing but a disaster for the club.

There have been rumors that Barcelona could sign Everton’s Richarlison if Neymar’s deal does not happen. Even though Everton boss Marco Silva has rubbished the rumors, as per Goal, a report in Sky Sports has revealed that Everton, earlier this year, rejected a huge offer for Richarlison from Barcelona. The Catalans approached the Premier League side with a $107 million deal for Rocharlison but Everton made it clear that they were not willing to sell their talented youngster.

The Brazil national, who moved from Watford to Everton on a $44 million deal ahead of the 2018-19 season, is Neymar’s teammate in the national team and has never hesitated to express how the PSG star has inspired him over the years.

“Neymar has been an idol of mine since childhood. I’ve always tried to mirror myself in the way he plays and I’ve also tried imitating some of his haircuts. When I was 12 or 13 I had the yellow mohican. I didn’t quite pull it off though because I didn’t have the right hair products,” the 23-year-old striker once said in an interview.

Richarlison, who has scored 12 goals for Everton this season in 31 matches across the tournaments, can bring the depth and versatility in Barcelona’s squad as he can play as a center-forward or even on either wing in the field.