How Neymar nearly signed for Bayern Munich  | OneFootball

In the summer of 2013, Bayern Munich announced that Pep Guardiola would become the club’s next head coach, taking over the reins from Jupp Heynckes, who guided Der Rekordmeister to the treble the previous season.

With great anticipation awaiting the arrival of the former Barcelona head coach, it would be fair to say that during his tenure, Guardiola did not disappoint the majority of excited Bayern fans.

However, one area in which Guardiola did not succeed was in winning the Champions League.

Nevertheless, this could have been different had the Spaniard landed his number one target, Neymar.

Speaking in the “Podpah” podcast (via Bild), the Brazilian winger explained that Guardiola attempted to lure him to his next job, which happened to be Bayern.

“Pep said to me, I would like to sign you and bring you to me, to whatever club I go to. I will make you the best player in the world. Then he showed me a piece of paper, opened his laptop, and told me where I would play under him. Pep also said, ‘If you don’t score 60 goals a season, I will change my name.’”

“I said, ‘Okay, but for which team?’ Pep said, ‘I can’t tell you yet because it’s not decided yet.’ But then I managed to convince him, and he said, ‘I’m going to sign for Bayern. I know it’s a cold city, but I’ll take care of you.'”

Where would Neymar have starred for Bayern Munich?

While it is unclear where Neymar would have played in Bavaria, with Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben starring on either flank, adding Neymar to the mix certainly would not have hindered Guardiola’s side.

Perhaps the Brazilian would have featured as the central figure in Der Rekordmeister’s frontline, which would have made for a frightening front four, with Thomas Müller sitting in behind.

This could also have meant that Robert Lewandowski would never have signed for the record champions, leading to many what-ifs.

Ultimately, Neymar elected to sign for Barcelona, where he would win the Champions League, stating that he wanted to “play with Messi” as the reason why he turned down Bayern.

It will never be known what could have been had Neymar moved to Germany, but the mesmerising Brazilian would have undoubtedly made the Bundesliga an exciting league to watch.

GGFN | Will Shopland