ChosePSGto writehistory, notmoney:Neymar

Unveiled on Friday, Brazilian says he moved to Paris for bigger challenges; claims his leaving Barca has nothing to do with escaping Messi’s shadow

PARIS: Neymar on Friday insisted that money was not a motivation in deciding to join Paris SaintGermain and said that he would not be burdened by his €222 million price tag.

The Brazilian flew in from Barcelona on a private jet for his official presentation, arriving in a city whose football fortunes he is expected to transform.

At a packed Paris news conference, Neymar found it “really sad” to be asked whether the riches on offer were the reason for his decision to swap one of football’s most illustrious teams — Barcelona has won every major honour multiple times — for a club yet to win the biggest competitions outside of France.

Below are the excerpts from his first press conference as a PSG player:

People think you only came to PSG for the money. Your opinion?

What I say to these people is they don’t know anything about my personal life — I was never motivated by money. What I think about is my happiness and together with my family I want them to be happy.

If I was following money, I would be somewhere else, with other clubs in other countries. I’m really sad that people still think that way and I’m glad that PSG believe in me.

Did you leave Barcelona to move out of (Lionel) Messi’s shadow?

No, on the contrary, one of my motivations to play for Barcelona was to play alongside Lionel Messi, he was my role model. There was no pressure at all there, only during the first week at Barcelona where I was nervous to train with my role models.

But after that first week, I was relaxed and to play with the best is very easy because every player wants to play with the best in the world to win titles together. I want to thank Messi because he welcomed me so well and I learned so much from him in our four years together.

How does it feel to be the world’s most expensive player ever? Will it be a burden?

It is not a burden, I am 69kg and do not have a burden on my back. I feel like any other Brazilian citizen, I have a lot of happiness in me. I thank God for showing me the path to follow to arrive here today. I’m very happy to wear the PSG shirt and represent Brazil.

Would you have come to PSG without all the other Brazilians being here?

To be really honest, that wouldn’t have changed my approach. It was not easy. I had to think a lot, I had to think what I wanted to do with my life. A lot of people wanted me to talk about it but it’s difficult to communicate when you’re not 100 per cent sure what you want to do.

But as soon as I made up my mind, I started communicating. This is what my heart told me to do. I always ask my heart every day and my heart told me: ‘Go to PSG’.

Why PSG?

This is for ambition. They have a similar ambition to mine. I want something bigger, a bigger challenge and my heart made that decision and made me follow. That is why I am here.

I want to give my best to help the club win trophies. It is not because I was not the star at Barcelona — I fitted in very well there. This is not what I am looking for here. PSG deserve trophies and I will have new trophies, this is what motivates me.

What would success look like at PSG? What would you be satisfied with?

I want to write history at PSG, this is the only reason. There are new challenges and I want to help write history. Our biggest challenge is the Champions League but I want all the trophies as well.

People at Barcelona are frustrated and are comparing you to (Luis) Figo...

I have done nothing bad. I am sad about the fact that the fans think that. I hope it is only a minority. I never disrespected the fans and I think every player should be allowed to stay or leave a club. You are not obligated to remain at a club, if you wish to leave then the player has that right.