Gerard Pique backtracks and admits Neymar could join PSG and leave Barcelona

The Barcelona defender's suggestion that his team-mate would stay was 'just a personal opinion'

Gerard Pique suggested Neymar would stay at Barcelona on Sunday (Twitter / @3gerardpique)

Gerard Pique has backtracked on his suggestion that Neymar will stay at Barcelona, admitting that he was merely expressing his own hopes that the Brazilian remains in Catalonia.

The Barcelona defender posted an image of himself with Neymar to Twitter earlier this week, alongside the caption: “He stays.”

However, speaking ahead of his side’s pre-season friendly against Manchester United, Pique conceded that his team-mate is still considering a world record-breaking move to Paris Saint-Germain.

“It was just a personal opinion,” said Pique, when asked about Sunday night’s tweet.

“There is no better place than with us and we have tried to convince him of that,” he added. “The French league, with all due respect, if you don’t win the Champions League there then he is not going to get the recognition that he deserves playing there.”

“It’s not up to me to say if he stays or goes. He is the one who has to say that, but I hope he stays.”

Last week, reports in France suggested that Paris Saint-Germain were ready to break the world transfer record by meeting Neymar’s €222m (£198m) release clause.

If the proposed transfer is completed, the fee would be more than double the current record of €105m, spent by Manchester United to sign Paul Pogba last summer.

Pique revealed that he and his fellow team-mates have attempted to persuade Neymar to stay at Barcelona, who he joined from boyhood club Santos in 2013.

“When we talk with him, and we have all spoken to him, we have tried to transmit our feelings to him as a team-mate and a friend,” Pique said.

“We know the situation he finds himself in. He is 25 and he is a unique talent that is thinking about his future. We have tried to make him reflect on things. It is not about money.

“Is it for an ambitious project? Well there is no better place than Barcelona. It could be for a personal thing. Here he has coincided with Leo [Messi] and he is the best in the world.”