Footage has emerged of the Barcelona chief explaining the Brazilian’s global marketing power was a major factor in their decision to sign him.
Barcelona believed Neymar would be the biggest money-making machine in football since David Beckham, according to president Josep Maria Bartomeu. In addition to insisting Rosell was the only man involved in negotiating the move, Bartomeu explained the Catalans saw an unmissable opportunity to use Neymar’s magnetic pulling power, which he compared favourably to Beckham, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United midfielder.
Bartomeu was quoted in GOAL: “I always use the example of David Beckham. We wanted to sign a high-profile footballer who would bring in lots of sponsors. Neymar isn’t just a football player, he is a global superstar. We had never signed a player quite like him before. We wanted someone with Beckham’s marketing pull; until Neymar came along, I had never seen anyone who matched him in terms of media attention.”