Former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that he wanted to bring Neymar to the Camp Nou three years ago.
The 21-year-old completed his long awaited switch from Santos to Barca earlier this summer, in a €57 million deal.
And Guardiola says he did all he could to convince Neymar to join the club during his four-year stint in charge, as reported on Goal.com.
He said: “[President Sandro Rosell] asked me to call him [Neymar] to discuss the possibility of convincing him to come to Barcelona and what I did was trying to convince him.
“At the last FIFA gala, I talked to him. We talked about football, the match against Santos and the idea I had of football."
The 42-year-old also dismissed reports that he had dismissed current coach Tito Vilanova"s ability to successfully manage both Neymar and star player Lionel Messi.
“Winning the league with the record points in Barcelona"s history is enough of an argument for me to tell if he [Vilanova] is qualified or not," Guardiola added.
“Good players are always able to play together, and these too. Intermediaries are very wrong. The information they gave is very wrong. I would never dare make a comment like the one suggested I"ve done."
