Barca needed Neymar, not Griezmann - Abidal
Neymar has transferred to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, a move worth €222 million, making him the most expensive player ever.
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Eric Abidal says Barcelona would have resigned Neymar had they not contracted Antoine Griezmann.
The technical secretary of the Blaugranas was sacked on August 18, 2020, a day after the dismissal of Quique Setien as the head coach.
Barcelona after their 8-2 humiliation by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at Lisbon underwent a massive change as club president then, Josep Bartomeu was later affected to step down.
Abidal has granted his first interview with the Telegraph since leaving Barcelona last summer and has told that the Blaugranas almost brought back Brazilian talent, Neymar to the Camp Nou from Paris Saint Germain, two years after joining but the president of the club then opted for Griezmann.
"Ten days before the end of the transfer window, I went to Paris to talk with Leonardo [PSG's sporting director] and I was with my CEO [Oscar Grau], and we were talking about Neymar," Abidal told the Telegraph.
"I think if the CEO goes to Paris Saint-Germain, it's because we can sign him. If we didn't sign Griezmann before, I think 100 per cent we could have re-signed Neymar, because what we needed was a winger and when Neymar was in Barcelona he was amazing.
"This is not about which player is better, it was what I thought was the position we needed at the time. The team needed a real winger. The president [Josep Maria Bartomeu] decided to sign Griezmann.
"One of the arguments against Neymar was that he had a court case against the club, so it's not easy. They said he would have to stop the court process if he wanted to come back. That wasn't my problem because I was not at the club when that dispute happened. In my view, I could sign the player, but it didn't happen."
