In the summer of 2012 Neymar was at the heart of rumours linking him with a move to the Premier League and was the subject of one of that year's most protracted transfer sagas. It looked for a time that he would almost definitely be moving to England, with Chelsea his most likely destination. Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro, who was president of Neymar's club at the time - Santos - was 'almost certain' the player would be sold to Chelsea, and so was everybody else, it would seem. The deal would have been a blockbuster one for the Blues, with the Brazilian scoring 14 goals in 17 appearances in 2012, earning himself a reputation as one of South America's most exciting young stars. However, he ended up staying at Santos - at least for another season - and signed for Barcelona a year later, dashing any hopes the Blues might have had of persuading the forward to change his mind.