Neymar to Barca: 'Would you take me back?'
Sport claim that this question was asked in a conversation with his two former team-mates, and its seriousness has yet to be properly gauged.
The Brazilian sensation moved to the Parc des Princes this summer for €222 million, and now earns €30m a year after tax.
The most expensive player in history has made a strong start to life in Ligue 1, scoring eleven goals between the French first division and the Champions League.
Yet the question he asked his former partners in the feared MSN trio has left the Blaugrana gobsmacked.
He appeared to be smiling and chatty as he returned to Catalonia to pay his old team-mates a visit, but the question (“If I come back, would you accept me?) may be more sibylline than first believed.
This despite the fact that Neymar didn’t get on well with the Catalan club, and got into an argument with team-mates in his last season there.