Rumors emerging today on the website of Guillem Balague [and confirmed in Tuesday's Revisita de la Liga broadcast] suggest that FC Barcelona may have been busy behind the scenes at the Club World Cup. Balague reports that Neymar has agreed to personal terms with Barcelona and that money has already changed hands in the deal. Sandro Rosell has allegedly paid 10 million Euros to Santos in order to secure the services of Neymar sometime before 2014. If the details of the deal are to be believed, Santos will owe Barcelona 20 million Euros if they decide to send the player elsewhere. The total operation, likely to be finalized after the upcoming World Cup in Brazil, will be worth 60 million Euros.

Independent of the merits of Neymar and how he would fit into the culture of Barcelona, this signing would be a coup for Rosell as the player is highly coveted by Florentino Pérez at Real Madrid. Despite having signed a “pre-contract” with the team from the Capitol, some of Neymar’s recent declarations in the press indicate that his heart may be in favor of a move to Catalonia where he would be reunited with his good friend Dani Alves. Indeed, As.com is reporting on Tuesday that Neymar personally asked Pep Guardiola to “take me to Barcelona” in the aftermath of the CWC final.