The defender revealed the Brazilian indicated he would leave Barcelona at Lionel Messi’s wedding, but the players tried to change his mind

Gerard Pique claims he knew Neymar was going to join Paris Saint-Germain when the Barcelona defender indicated on social media that the Brazilian would remain at Camp Nou.

Amid the saga that preceded Neymar’s stunning move from Barca to PSG for a world-record fee of €222 million, Pique caused a stir by tweeting a photo of him alongside the forward with the caption “se queda” (he stays).

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The Spain international previously claimed it was just his guess that Neymar would not leave Barca, but Pique has now altered his version of events.

“I don’t feel like I’ve been tricked,” Pique said at a media conference ahead of Barca’s Supercopa de Espana first-leg clash with Real Madrid.

“Now that everything has taken place I can explain how it all went down.

“At [Lionel] Messi’s wedding, Neymar already had this idea that he would leave.

“The day that I posted the ‘se queda’ tweet, I already knew that he was 100 per cent leaving, but it was my final shot.

“He was annoyed at me. I’m sure he had his reasons.

“In the end, we cannot judge him as he has taken a brave decision. He performed really well for us and has now left money in the bank, while we remember him fondly.”

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On what Barca will do with the money they received for Neymar, Pique said: “It is a tough time to sign [players] and everyone wants to take advantage of the fact that we have €222m to spend.

“The club must think well about what it does.

“This team can guarantee [success], but new players can still be signed and it will be better because of the competition.”