BARCELONA – Lionel Messi bid farewell to Neymar on Instagram on Wednesday after the Brazilian striker told him and other Barcelona teammates he was leaving, saying it was a “huge pleasure” to have played with him.
The Catalan club confirmed on Wednesday that Neymar wanted to leave after weeks of intense speculation, taking the 25-year-old closer to a potential world record move to Paris Saint-Germain.
“It was a huge pleasure having shared all those years with you, my friend @neymarjr,” Messi wrote on Instagram next to a montage of pictures of both football stars high-fiving, embracing or laughing.
“I wish you lots of luck in this new stage in your life. See you soon tkm,” he added. “Tkm” stands for “te quiero mucho” (I love you loads).
A post shared by Leo Messi (@leomessi) on Aug 2, 2017 at 6:05am PDT
Neymar responded soon afterwards, saying: “Thanks brother. I will miss you uncle.”
Speculation over Neymar’s future has dominated the first few weeks of new Barca boss Ernesto Valverde’s reign.
On Wednesday, the Catalan club insisted the Brazilian’s €222 million buyout clause must be paid.
Such a fee would smash the current record £89.3 million (€105.2 million) Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba last year.
The player’s advisor Wagner Ribeiro said the fee would be paid “in the coming hours” and Neymar could be presented in Paris “this weekend”.