Neymar’s Almost-Real Story: The Ballon d’Or That Got Away
Wagner Ribeiro still carries the story like a near-miss title. In his mind, Neymar da Silva should have walked out at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2013, not the Camp Nou. And if that had happened, the former agent is convinced of one thing: the Brazilian would have a Ballon d’Or to his name.
The transfer that shook Europe a decade ago, Neymar’s move from Santos to Barcelona, could easily have rewritten modern football history in white, not blaugrana.
“Everything Was Agreed With Florentino”
Ribeiro, who followed Neymar from adolescence into stardom, opened the files in a long interview with “GE Globo”. He described a tug-of-war between Barcelona and Real Madrid that started long before the cameras and the confetti.
For years, both Spanish giants circled Santos’ prodigy. Trips, meetings, phone calls, offers. It was a drawn-out courtship. According to Ribeiro, Real Madrid had it in their hands.
“Everything was agreed with Florentino,” he recalled, detailing how Real Madrid’s lawyers were already in Sao Paulo. Contracts were ready, the numbers aligned. One final obstacle stood between Neymar and the Bernabeu: Santos’ approval.
“All we were missing was one condition: that Santos give its approval,” Ribeiro said. From his vantage point, Madrid were not just in the race. They were winning it.
He makes no secret of where he wanted the deal to land. “I wanted him to go to Real Madrid, of course I wanted that. Because of everything. But it is not the agent who decides, it is the player.” In the end, Neymar chose Barcelona, and the story veered off in another direction.
An Intruder on the Plane to Barcelona
Ribeiro still remembers the flight to Barcelona for Neymar’s unveiling. He was on the plane, but not really part of the party.
“When I travelled on the same plane with Neymar to Barcelona, to attend his unveiling ceremony, they sat me down as if I were an intruder,” he admitted. While the club celebrated its new star, the man who had once pushed for Madrid stood on the margins. “I did not take part in the celebration, but stayed in one of the corners.”
The move, of course, delivered. Neymar walked into a dressing room stacked with legends. “He played a lot alongside Suarez, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta... There were only the great stars there. And he won everything. And there is no regret.”
The agent who once tried to steer him towards the Bernabeu does not argue with the trophies that followed in Catalonia. The what-if remains, but the medals are real.
Ibiza, Paris and a €222 Million Exit
Years later, Ribeiro found himself involved again, this time at the start of Neymar’s path out of Barcelona. The scene had changed: Ibiza instead of Sao Paulo, and a new power at the table.
He met Neymar, his father and Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to talk numbers and ambition. “Nasser was offering him 25 million euros and we asked for 40,” Ribeiro revealed.
The negotiations took a twist when Neymar’s father allowed it to leak that PSG were ready to pay 25 million in Paris. The effect was immediate. Barcelona reacted. “Barcelona improved the offer and gave him 26,” Ribeiro said.
The stay did not last long. One year later, the biggest transfer in football history detonated. PSG paid 222 million euros for Neymar, and the salary target was finally hit. He “ended up getting 40,” Ribeiro noted. The financial leap was colossal, but for Neymar it was not only about the money.
“Neymar wanted to change the atmosphere,” Ribeiro explained. The Brazilian was looking for a new stage and a new hierarchy. He also had a promise: “Paris Saint-Germain would build a great team.”
The Ballon d’Or That Never Came
Through all the twists — Santos, Barcelona, Paris — one conviction has hardened in Ribeiro’s mind. Neymar, in his view, had everything to be officially crowned the best in the world.
“If Neymar had played at Real Madrid, he would have won the Ballon d’Or. I have no doubt,” he stated.
It is a bold line, but it captures the essence of this alternate timeline. In Ribeiro’s story, the difference between Barcelona and Madrid is not just about colours or stadiums. It is about legacy. About how history might have treated Neymar’s prime years under the lights of the Bernabeu, framed by the club that so often shapes Ballon d’Or votes.
Neymar instead built his legend alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, then became the centrepiece of PSG’s grand project. He “won everything” with Barcelona, smashed transfer records with Paris, and still the golden ball never landed in his hands.
Ribeiro’s version lingers in the background: a deal once “agreed with Florentino,” lawyers waiting in Sao Paulo, a career that might have taken a different road at the last turn. The medals are fixed, the numbers are written, but the question he raises will not go away easily.
Was the Ballon d’Or lost the moment Neymar chose blaugrana over white?
