Piqué : « Neymar could have won the Ballon d’Or if he had stayed at Barça »
Gerard Piqué looked back on Neymar’s departure from FC Barcelona in 2017, saying the Brazilian could have won the Ballon d’Or if he had extended his time in Catalonia.
Lionel Messi et Neymar avec le Barça, en juillet 2017
Crédit: Getty Images
Having left for Paris Saint-Germain in a record €222 million transfer, Neymar shook up the global market. For Piqué, that choice stalled the momentum of a player who had everything to dominate world football.
“ I’m convinced he deserved a Ballon d’Or. I think going to PSG hurt him. We tried to convince him to stay, we did everything,” said the former Barça defender on the PodPah podcast.
“Everyone thought he was going to stay, even me, but everything seemed already decided. Still, he had an incredible career.“
Between 2013 and 2017, Neymar formed the fearsome ‘MSN’ trio with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, leading FC Barcelona to a historic treble in 2015. After his spell in Paris, the Brazilian joined Al-Hilal in 2023 before returning to his boyhood club, Santos, in 2025.