La Liga president Javier Tebas believes that Lionel Messi is more important to the league’s popularity than Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, but admitted that he would like to see the Brazilian return to Spain.
Neymar, who left Barcelona in 2017 to join Paris Saint-Germain in a world-record £200million move, is looking to secure a return to Spain before the transfer window closes on September 2.
The 27-year-old, who is yet to feature for the French club this season, has been heavily linked with a return to Barcelona as well as a potential switch to domestic rivals Real Madrid .
With both clubs reportedly having approaches for the forward rejected, Tebas said he would like to see the Brazil star make a return to La Liga.
“Yes, of course [I’d like Neymar to return],” Tebas told Marca . “With his qualities he’s in the top three players in the world.
“It would be very important for La Liga if he came again, although it wouldn’t be defining for the Spanish league.
“The defining thing is that we play 10 months a year, with 20 clubs each playing each other and generating passion and joy each weekend for fans in Spain and across the world.”
Despite stating that Neymar is among the best players in world, Tebas admitted that his former team-mate Messi is still more important in bringing the league new audiences.
“A player like Neymar gives you a following in countries that look out for him, but he’s not an essential element,” Tebas continued. “Not even Cristiano Ronaldo was.
“Lionel Messi, on the other hand, is an essential element because he’s the heritage of La Liga.”
So far, neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid have been able to reach an agreement for the striker, with PSG looking to recoup most of the £200m fee they paid the Catalan club two years ago.
After already seeing some offers rejected, recent reports in Spain have suggested that Barca are set to launch a third bid constituting a £154.5million (€170m) loan deal, which would include an option to buy next summer.
Although both Real and Barca have already spent big this summer on the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic , Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao, Tebas still believes both clubs could finance a deal with Neymar without falling foul of Financial Fair Play.
“If they are interested in signing [Neymar] it’s because they can [afford] it,” he added.
“I’m not going to go there because there are many factors that we don’t know about at the moment.”
