Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu claims Real Madrid have never got over the fact Brazilian forward chose to play for the Camp Nou side rather than Los Blancos.
The La Liga giants were fighting for his signature before the forward opted to sign for Barca in May 2013. Official figures put the transfer fee at 57 million euros but it has since emerged that the Catalan outfit actually paid 86 million euros for the former Santos man.
The striker has gone on to form a formidable partnership with Luis Suarez and Leo Messi and the trio fired Barcelona to treble glory last season.
Bartomeu is currently await trial for alleged tax evasion and fraud over the deal that brought Neymar to Spain.
And speaking to RAC1 the president, who was re-elected this summer, said he thinks the campaign against him is backed by someone connected to Los Blancos.
“In Madrid they still don’t understand Neymar chose Barca and they are trying to create difficulties for the club and for him. Let’s see how the trial finishes, but I will never get tired of defending club and player interests,” he said.
After reported interest from Manchester United this summer, Bartomeu said Neymar is not for sale.
“We haven’t started negotations with Neymar for his renewal but he is a very important player to us and we hope he retires from football at Barcelona.”
