Barcelona players were ready to accept pay delay to help sign Neymar

Neymar: Gerard Pique has said Barcelona players were willing to accept payment delays if it would facilitate the return of Brazil star to Nou camp last summer transfer window

Gerard Pique has said Barcelona players were ready to accept payment delays if it would facilitate the return of Neymar last summer, according to BBC.

Barcelona tried everything they could to sign the Brazil star but the transfer did not happen.

Neymar moved to Paris St-Germain from Barcelona for a world-record fee of £200m in 2017.

Pique said Barcelona players told the club they would accept payment delays to assist the club meet Financial Fair Play rules.

Speaking to Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, Pique said "We were ready to adjust our contracts.

"We weren't going to contribute money, but we were going to make things easier by allowing some payments to be made in the second or third year instead of the first."

Barcelona spent more than £200m on players like Frankie de Jong and Antoine Griezmann last summer.

As a result of this, it would have been an uphill task for Barcelona to meet the requirements of the Financial Fair play rules to sign Neymar.