Neymar: One Step from Real Madrid and the Ballon d'Or, Claims Ribeiro
Wagner Ribeiro has seen enough transfer battles to be hard to surprise. Yet more than a decade on, one saga still lingers with a hint of what might have been: Neymar in white, not blaugrana.
In a candid interview with Brazilian outlet GE Globo, the former agent of Neymar da Silva laid bare how close the forward came to signing for Real Madrid in 2013 – and why he remains convinced that choice cost the Brazilian a Ballon d’Or.
Madrid deal “all agreed” – and waiting on Santos
Neymar’s move from Santos to Barcelona in 2013 was one of the defining transfers of the modern era, a deal that shifted marketing power, reshaped a frontline and helped build the devastating “MSN” trident with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez. But according to Ribeiro, the story was almost written in the capital, not in Catalonia.
Real Madrid, he says, had everything in place.
“Everything was agreed with Florentino,” Ribeiro recalled, describing direct talks with Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez. Lawyers from the Spanish club had flown to São Paulo. Contracts were ready. Personal terms, sorted. The project, mapped out.
All that remained was a single, decisive green light.
“All we were missing was one condition: that Santos give its approval,” Ribeiro said.
From his vantage point, the race was effectively over. Madrid, in his words, had reached a position of “absolute advantage” in the pursuit of Brazilian football’s brightest young star. Years of scouting trips, negotiations and presentations from both Spanish giants had boiled down to this: one final nod from Santos and Neymar would have been unveiled at the Santiago Bernabéu.
An agent who wanted white, a player who chose blaugrana
Ribeiro does not hide his preference. He pushed for Real Madrid. He believed the stage, the style, the spotlight were made for Neymar.
“I wanted him to go to Real Madrid, of course I wanted that. Because of everything,” he admitted. The prestige. The history of Brazilian icons at the Bernabéu. The Ballon d’Or platform.
Yet he also underlined a truth every agent knows but not all accept: the final call belongs to the player.
“It is not the agent who decides, it is the player,” he said.
Neymar chose Barcelona. He chose Messi, the Camp Nou, the Cruyffian blueprint. For Ribeiro, that decision turned him from architect to outsider almost overnight.
On the plane to Barcelona, feeling like an intruder
Ribeiro still remembers the flight to Barcelona for Neymar’s unveiling. He was on the same plane as the player he had guided from adolescence into global superstardom. But his influence on the move had waned, and his links to Madrid hung over the occasion.
“When I travelled on the same plane with Neymar to Barcelona, to attend his unveiling ceremony, they sat me down as if I were an intruder,” he revealed. While the club celebrated its new star, Ribeiro stayed on the margins. “I did not take part in the celebration, but stayed in one of the corners.”
The scene captures the tension of that moment. A transfer triumph for Barcelona. A personal and professional anticlimax for the agent who had spent years steering Neymar towards the Bernabéu.
No regrets over Barcelona years
Time has not soured Ribeiro’s view of what Neymar achieved in Catalonia. Any frustration over the Madrid near-miss is tempered by what actually unfolded on the pitch.
“He played a lot alongside Suarez, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta... There were only the great stars there. And he won everything. And there is no regret,” he said.
Those Barcelona years brought a Champions League, La Liga titles, a treble, and some of the most scintillating attacking football of the decade. Neymar evolved from prodigy to fully formed superstar, thriving in a side stacked with generational talent.
Ribeiro acknowledges that reality. The what-if of Madrid coexists with the memory of a glittering spell in Barcelona colours.
Ibiza, Nasser and the road to Paris
Ribeiro’s role in Neymar’s story did not end with that first European move. He resurfaced at another pivotal crossroads: the build-up to the record-breaking transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.
This time, the setting was Ibiza. Ribeiro met Neymar, his father and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi to discuss a move that would eventually shatter the transfer record.
“Nasser was offering him 25 million euros and we asked for 40,” Ribeiro said. Negotiations were as much about leverage as loyalty. Then came a tactical leak.
“When Neymar's father allowed it to be leaked that Paris Saint-Germain was paying 25 in Paris, Barcelona improved the offer and gave him 26,” he explained.
Barcelona blinked first, nudging their offer up. It only delayed the inevitable. One year later, PSG activated the €222 million release clause, the football world gasped at the fee, and Neymar finally secured the salary his camp had pushed for.
“One year later, Neymar left for 222 million euros and ended up getting 40,” Ribeiro noted.
Money, though, was only part of the equation.
“Neymar wanted to change the atmosphere and he had a promise that Paris Saint-Germain would build a great team,” Ribeiro said. The Brazilian wanted a new stage, a team built more clearly around him, and a different kind of challenge in Paris.
The Ballon d’Or that never came
For Ribeiro, one belief has hardened with time: Neymar had the talent and the numbers to win the Ballon d’Or. The missing ingredient, in his eyes, was the shirt.
“If Neymar had played at Real Madrid, he would have won the Ballon d'Or. I have no doubt,” he insisted.
It is a bold claim, but one that fits the narrative of the past decade. The Ballon d’Or era was dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with Real Madrid’s Champions League juggernaut offering a particularly powerful platform for individual glory. Brazilian stars from previous generations – Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká – all lifted the award while shining in Spain.
Neymar came closest in 2015, finishing third behind Messi and Ronaldo after helping Barcelona to the treble. The individual award, though, never arrived.
Ribeiro is convinced a Madrid chapter would have changed that. In his mind, the white shirt, the Bernabéu spotlight and Real’s European dominance would have carried Neymar over the line.
The transfer never signed, the trophy never lifted. For Neymar, the career is still being written. For Ribeiro, the story of the one that got away remains crystal clear.
