Neymar's Missed Chance at Real Madrid: A Transfer Story
A decade on from Neymar’s seismic move to Barcelona, one of the men closest to the deal insists the story should have been written in white, not blaugrana.
Wagner Ribeiro, the Brazilian’s former agent and long-time fixer, has lifted the lid on how close Neymar came to joining Real Madrid in 2013 – and why he is convinced the forward would have ended up with a Ballon d’Or at the Bernabeu.
Madrid on the brink
Neymar’s transfer from Santos to Barcelona was billed as the next great Galáctico-style arrival, only in Catalan colours. It shook Europe, triggered legal battles, and formally announced the arrival of Brazilian football’s brightest prodigy on the European stage.
Yet, according to Ribeiro, the script was almost completely different.
Years before the deal was done, both Barcelona and Real Madrid had circled Santos, testing the water with meetings, offers and charm offensives. Neymar was still a teenager, but the race for his signature had already become a drawn-out tug of war between Spain’s two superclubs.
Ribeiro, who had shepherded Neymar through his adolescence and into the professional game, says he pushed hard for Madrid. He dealt directly with Florentino Pérez, travelled, negotiated and, in his words, brought Los Blancos to the very edge of a historic coup.
“Everything was agreed with Florentino, and Real Madrid’s lawyers were in Sao Paulo. All we were missing was one condition: that Santos give its approval,” he recalled in an interview with “GE Globo”.
From his vantage point, Madrid were not just in the race. They were winning it. The contracts, the legal team, the will of the president – all aligned. The only missing piece was the Brazilian club’s green light.
Ribeiro makes no attempt to hide where his loyalties lay in that moment. He wanted the white shirt.
“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.”
The decision, as it always must, rested with Neymar.
An awkward flight to Barcelona
When the choice finally came, it went the other way. Neymar chose Barcelona, and with that, a front row seat alongside Lionel Messi in one of the most gifted attacking lines the game has seen.
For Ribeiro, the man who had spent years pulling the deal towards Madrid, the final act of the saga played out in strangely muted fashion.
He boarded the plane to Barcelona with Neymar, travelling to the Catalan city for the unveiling of the club’s new star. The Camp Nou would be packed, the cameras trained on the Brazilian, the celebrations choreographed.
Ribeiro, though, describes those hours as feeling like an outsider at his own show.
“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. I did not take part in the celebration, but stayed in one of the corners.”
The battle had been won by Barcelona. The man who had tried to deliver Neymar to Madrid watched the party from the shadows.
No regrets, only conviction
Time has not softened Ribeiro’s admiration for what Neymar achieved at Barcelona. He does not pretend the move was a mistake.
“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 honours list backs him up: Champions League, La Liga titles, domestic cups, a starring role in the famed MSN trio. Neymar did not vanish in Messi’s shadow; he thrived in it, often blazing his own trail on the biggest nights.
Yet Ribeiro holds on to one unshakable belief: that the game’s biggest individual prize slipped away with that choice of colours.
“If Neymar had played at Real Madrid, he would have won the Ballon d’Or. I have no doubt.”
It is a bold claim, but not an outlandish one. In Madrid, as Ribeiro sees it, Neymar would have been cast as the main protagonist, not the brilliant co-star. The stage, the politics, the spotlight – all different. The same talent, a different context, perhaps a different legacy.
Ibiza, Paris and the second great gamble
Ribeiro’s role in Neymar’s story did not end in Barcelona. When the forward’s time at Camp Nou began to fray, the agent found himself involved again – this time on the other side of the table.
The setting was Ibiza. The cast: Neymar, his father, Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and Ribeiro. The topic was a fresh start in Paris.
According to Ribeiro, PSG opened with a huge salary proposal.
“Nasser was offering him 25 million euros and we asked for 40. And when Neymar's father allowed it to be leaked that Paris Saint-Germain was paying 25 in Paris, Barcelona improved the offer and gave him 26. And one year later, Neymar left for 222 million euros and ended up getting 40.”
It was a classic transfer power play. A leak here, a counter-offer there, a club forced to react. Barcelona nudged their offer up. PSG, a year later, detonated the market with a €222 million release clause payment and the wage packet Neymar’s camp had demanded from the start.
For Ribeiro, though, the decision was never just about the numbers on a contract.
“Neymar wanted to change the atmosphere and he had a promise that Paris Saint-Germain would build a great team.”
The move to France was framed as a break from Messi’s orbit, a chance to lead his own project, to carry a club towards the Champions League and, perhaps, to finally land that elusive Ballon d’Or.
That part never quite materialised. Injuries, near-misses in Europe, the rise of Kylian Mbappé – the story in Paris grew complicated. The promise of a new kingdom did not turn into the coronation many expected.
The great “what if” of a golden talent
Ribeiro’s account does not rewrite Neymar’s career. It reframes it.
The numbers, the trophies, the highlights – they stand. Neymar has already carved out a place among the most gifted players of his generation. He dazzled at Santos, conquered Barcelona, became the face of PSG’s revolution.
Yet the former agent keeps returning to the same fork in the road: Madrid or Barcelona. The white shirt or the blaugrana stripes. Main man or superstar partner.
In his mind, that decision cost Neymar the Ballon d’Or.
The debate will rage on in bars, studios and comment sections: was Neymar’s ceiling defined by injuries, by timing, by his own choices, or simply by existing in the era of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?
Ribeiro’s answer is clear. In a parallel universe, Neymar walks out at the Santiago Bernabeu, the Ballon d’Or in his hands, and no one is talking about what might have been.
