Barcelona Transfer News: Neymar Hopes Reportedly Boosted by Sponsorship Deal

A new shirt sponsorship deal for Barcelona worth a reported £48 million per season will help the club preserve commercial parity with Manchester United, and put them in a better position to stave off the Red Devils' advances for Neymar.

According to Pete Jenson of the MailOnline, the deal will be an extension of the current agreement with Qatar Airways. It will reportedly go through by the end of the month, seeing Barcelona pick up a renewal bonus of around £22 million and taking the overall value of the sponsorship to a whopping £213 million.

Jenson outlines the commercial and on-field reasons as to why it was necessary Barcelona continued with this agreement, citing interest in the Brazil international:

"

There has been opposition in the past from members who say the club should be able to find less controversial alternatives to a brand linked with the 2022 World Cup but Bartomeu has always maintained the deal is with an airline not Qatar, and he has argued that it is wholly necessary if Barcelona are to compete in the transfer market with Manchester United.

United were linked with Neymar in the summer and their current shirt sponsorship agreement with Chevrolet, worth £52 million a season, is the biggest in football.

"

VI-Images/Getty Images

There were reports this summer that Neymar was interested in a move to United, and the 23-year-old admitted there were some preliminary talks between himself and the club.

Even so, it always seemed a fanciful move from the Red Devils, especially given how important the Brazilian is to the current Barcelona cause.

As we can see here courtesy of Bleacher Report UK, the Blaugrana technical director Roberto Fernandez expects Neymar to be a Cule for the rest of his career:

Looking at the current Barcelona squad, they would have been extremely foolish to let Neymar leave late on in the transfer window. The group is beginning to feel the full effects of their transfer ban, with injuries, suspensions and fatigue beginning to mount up. As a result, the Blaugrana’s form has suffered.

As noted by Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe, Barcelona are really struggling for numbers at the moment and that showed in their 2-1 loss to Sevilla last time out:

Ensuring Barcelona can stand up financially to the likes of United is one surefire way of keeping their best player, but it’s not as if the club are in a terrible plight. After all, it’s rare we see teams possessing the gravitas of Barca, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich selling players unless they themselves have intentions to do so.

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Neymar has already achieved plenty at the Nou Camp in his short career, helping Barcelona to the treble in the 2014-15 season. But you suspect he’ll be insatiable for more glory and improve what are already impressive statistics, per barcastat (h/t barcastuff):

"

Neymar has been directly involved in 50 goals in his 65 Liga games #fcblive (35 goals, 15 assists) [via @barcastat]

— barcastuff (@barcastuff) October 5, 2015"

It’s important Barcelona continue to keep pace with other European juggernauts in a commercial sense. While the Catalan giants have always prided themselves on organic growth, they do still move to sign the finest players in world football, and they usually come at a substantial premium.

Measuring up to the likes of United will ensure they’re still in a position to recruit players to the standard of Neymar and Luis Suarez in years to come, not to mention keep hold of them.

The Brazilian seems content with life at the Camp Nou at the moment, though, playing alongside some of the finest players of this generation and well on his way to earning that kind of status himself.