Tite says Neymar would never have been left out of the Brazil squad

Brazil national team coach Tite has said that Neymar’s position with the national side was never in concern despite the uncertainty at the club level with Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazilian recovered from a foot injury ahead of the summer Copa America tournament but the happiness was short-lived as he picked up an ankle problem soon after.

As such, he had to watch his compatriots from the stands as they won the continental tournament and has now been called up for the friendly games against Colombia and Peru. Speaking in a press conference, Tite spoke about the importance of Neymar to the national side and indicated that he has no doubts regarding the attacker’s commitment.

He said: “What I will say is that, concerning to a player with such a level and quality as Neymar, we would never leave him out of this group. We talked about three aspects that we can make public, not all the conversation but these things we can. Firstly, his moment and how he felt. He said he was happy, feeling okay and he had been working normally. I asked about his emotional situation because this influences the athlete's performance. He said he was calm, that he knew things were taking their way and that he was waiting for PSG to give a definition of his situation.”

Neymar has played no part for Les Parisiens since the beginning of the new season and reports have emerged that the forward is determined to make the comeback with Barcelona. So far, the Spanish champions have been far off from meeting Les Parisiens’ £200m demands but there are reports suggesting that they could eventually seal the deal before the September 2 deadline.

The Catalan giants were initially hoping to offer Philippe Coutinho as part of a player-plus-cash deal for Neymar and that has fallen through with the former opting to join Bayern Munich on loan with the option to buy next summer. Since then, Ousmane Dembele has been associated with a potential move to Parc des Princes and the next few days should give a clear idea whether the Blaugrana are able to agree on a part-exchange deal for Neymar.