Neymar's Transfer: What If He Chose Real Madrid?
Wagner Ribeiro leans on a simple conviction: Neymar should have worn white.
More than a decade after the Brazilian’s explosive move to Barcelona, the former agent has peeled back the curtain on one of the defining transfer battles of modern football — and insists that had Neymar chosen Real Madrid in 2013, the Ballon d’Or would already be in his trophy cabinet.
A transfer that almost rewrote history
Neymar’s switch from Santos to Barcelona in 2013 was billed as the arrival of football’s next global superstar. It was also the end of a long and bruising tug-of-war between Spain’s two giants, a race that, according to Ribeiro, Madrid were on the verge of winning.
For years, both clubs circled. Scouts flew to Brazil, executives crossed the Atlantic, numbers were shuffled, proposals reworked. Neymar, still a phenomenon in Santos colours, had become the centre of a strategic arms race between Camp Nou and the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ribeiro, who had steered much of Neymar’s early career, describes a moment when Real Madrid seemed to have it all wrapped up. He says he dealt directly with Florentino Perez, pushing hard to take his client to the Bernabeu.
“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.
Madrid, in his telling, held what he called an “absolute advantage.” The money, the structure, the legal work — all in place. One signature from Santos, and the story of Neymar’s European career would have been written in a different colour.
Agent’s wish, player’s call
Ribeiro does not hide where his heart lay. He wanted Real Madrid. The prestige, the aura, the history of Brazilian stars in white — it all pulled him in that direction.
“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. He chose to join Lionel Messi, to slot into a dressing room already stacked with Xavi, Andres Iniesta and, later, Luis Suarez. He chose a team that would soon be terrifying Europe.
The decision left Ribeiro in an awkward limbo. He had fought to build the bridge to Madrid, only to find himself boarding a plane to Barcelona for a celebration that, on a personal level, stung.
“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,” he said.
He was there, but not really part of it. The agent who had pushed for white watched his player be unveiled in blaugrana.
No regrets over Barcelona, only a belief about Madrid
For all that tension, Ribeiro does not criticise the path Neymar took. Barcelona gave him trophies, status and some of the finest football of his career.
“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 what-if, for Ribeiro, sits elsewhere. It sits in the individual awards, in the golden ball that has eluded Neymar despite his talent and his peak years at the top level.
“If Neymar had played at Real Madrid, he would have won the Ballon d’Or. I have no doubt,” Ribeiro insisted.
In his mind, the Bernabeu stage, the spotlight of that shirt, and the way Madrid teams are often built around a single attacking reference would have tilted the narrative in Neymar’s favour. The talent was there. The platform, he believes, would have made the difference.
From Barcelona to Paris: a new front opens
Ribeiro’s role in Neymar’s story did not end with the Barcelona transfer. Years later, he found himself at another decisive crossroads in the forward’s career — this time as a supporting figure in the background of the move that shook the market: Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain.
He recalls a meeting in Ibiza with Neymar, his father and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, when the outlines of the Paris project were being drawn.
“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.”
The numbers still sound surreal. Barcelona tried to respond, nudging the salary up. PSG came back with the kind of financial package — and release clause trigger — that detonated the transfer record.
But Ribeiro is clear: this was not only about money. Neymar, he says, wanted to break out of Messi’s orbit, to step into a role where he could be the undisputed centrepiece.
“Neymar wanted to change the atmosphere and he had a promise that Paris Saint-Germain would build a great team.”
That promise led to the €222 million move, a seismic transfer that redefined the market and reshaped the balance of power in Europe.
The Ballon d’Or that never came
The thread running through Ribeiro’s account is simple and unshakable: Neymar had the level to be crowned the best in the world. For him, the missed Madrid move is not just an anecdote, but the sliding door that closed on a Ballon d’Or.
He watched Neymar share the stage with Messi and Suarez, then carry the expectations of PSG’s project. He saw the titles, the Champions League run with Barcelona, the world-record fee to Paris. And still, no golden ball.
In Ribeiro’s view, a different choice in 2013 — the Bernabeu instead of Camp Nou — would have changed that. The career remains glittering. The question, in his mind, remains sharper: with the same talent, but a white shirt, how different would Neymar’s legacy look today?
