"Neymar is the best, but now we need Alexis"

The technical staff blaugrana discussed to first of year about the convenience of betting the forward of Udinese or Santos's promise.

A brief declarations of Albert Valentin in Globoesporte activated all alarms. The current technical secretary and coordinator a few months ago the entire network of scouts was in Peru to oversee the South American U-20.

Neymar broke easily and rising over half of the championship. Valentín's presence did not go unnoticed and several journalists came to him seeking his opinion. Globoesporte surprised on February 5 with a most unexpected manifestations of the discretion given the Valentín: "Neymar has the profile of Barça. He has a huge talent, but lacks physical. If you can raise both sides will be an excellent player, "picked up the story.

Upon arrival in Barcelona, ​​Albert Valentin denied any interview so blunt, but he confessed having had a brief informal chat with a reporter.

In any case, the name of Neymar da Silva was already on the table and pressed the time. Decision was needed and was on track signings chapter with some urgency. The summit came quickly and before the end of the month, Barca sports dome had marked his road map. There was a priority, and this was not Neymar. Entrance, waiting to see how the negotiations succeeded with Udinese's Alexis Sanchez had won the Brazilian. The technical argument in those days was simple and blunt: Neymar was considered the best young player of the moment, but Alexis, after his brilliant Italian step by calcium was the most suited bet Barca. His maturation process was vital to accelerate joint link to Guardiola. Back in March, the Pozzo family, owner of Udiinese, was calm and quite confident that the formal offer would arrive Barca despite all the rumors and market difficulties.

And it was. Earlier this year, Neymar was still a young talent, Santos had not made the leap to international and rumors of a complicated personal life were the order of the day. In February, reports requested Barca a holding pattern but recommended a comprehensive monitoring of the player.

The first face to face smiled at Alexis Sanchez, but all indications are that both will regain within a couple of seasons sharing the insides of the locker room of the Camp Nou. (via SPORT)