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.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
