West Ham United could have signed Neymar for just £16.4m extra in 2010

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West Ham United wanted to sign Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar before he moved from Santos to Barcelona.

Neymar has become the most expensive footballer in the world. According to BBC Sport, Paris Saint-Germain have completed the signing of the Brazil international forward from Barcelona for a transfer fee worth £200 million.

It is a new world record transfer fee for a footballer and would eclipse the £89m that Manchester United paid Juventus for midfielder Paul Pogba in the summer of 2016, as reported by BBC Sport.

The 25-year-old Brazil international forward had been on the books of Barcelona since 2013 when he made the move from Brazilian club Santos and is a global superstar.

However, things could have turned differently had West Ham United coughed up the extra £16.4 million they needed to in order to sign the forward back in 2010.

Back in July 2010, The Daily Mail quoted (then) Santos director of football Pedro Luiz Nunes as saying that that the Hammers had a bid of £12m rejected by Santos for Neymar.

It was reported by the British newspaper that Neymar’s release clause at Santos was £28.4m, and that the Brazilian club were not willing to sell him for anything else.

“We received an offer from West Ham for Neymar, worth €15million (about £12m),” The Daily Mail quoted Nunes as saying.

“Our position is clear, we do not open negotiations. These athletes only leave the club by paying the release clause.”

The report also claimed that the Hammers had been tracking the Brazilian for two years, and that they were the first club to formally make an offer.

Had West Ham paid the extra £16.4m needed to sign Neymar, then perhaps now they could have been bagging £200m for him instead of Barcelona getting that money.