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Neymar didn’t leave Barcelona to escape Lionel Messi’s shadow, says his father

Neymar’s dad has been talking about the Brazilian’s decision to leave Barcelona and reckons it was not because he wanted to escape Lionel Messi’s shadow.

The forward left Barca for Paris Saint-Germain in August 2017, although he now seems to be in Kylian Mbappe’s shadow.

Neymar Sr. has insisted his son’s departure wasn’t to do with Messi but then didn’t really offer another explanation either.

“It was not to get out of Messi’s shadow,” he explained.

”It was a very complex situation.

”We were asked for help to give visibility to a league.