Lionel Messi says he expected Neymar to join Real Madrid if a move to Barcelona did not materialise this summer.
The Brazil international joined PSG from Barça for a world-record fee of £198m in 2017.
The forward has won two Ligue 1 titles at the Parc des Princes but expressed a desire to leave the club ahead of the 2019/20 season.
“I honestly thought that in this market, if he did not come here, he would go to Madrid,” Messi told RAC1. “He was really looking forward to leaving and making a change, and he thought that Florentino Perez and Madrid would do something to sign him.”
Neymar’s move to PSG two years ago came as a shock, with many suggesting that the former Santos star left Barcelona in order to escape Messi’s shadow.
And the Argentina international believes his former team-mate now regrets his decision to depart Catalonia.
“I think so [he regretted the decision],” Messi added. “Shortly after he left he realised that he was wrong and that he had made a bad decision. It would be necessary to ask him but, knowing him and seeing what happened, I think so [he regretted leaving].
“Having had him on the team would have given us more options but I understand that the signing of Neymar is not only looked at for sporting reasons but also for having left the way he did. There are those who didn't want him to return – it's understandable. It was complicated.”
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