The former Barcelona president says the Catalan club must take care of their Brazilian forward and ensure that he stays at Camp Nou for many years to come
Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta says Neymar is the natural heir to Ronaldinho at Camp Nou - and maybe even the successor of team-mate Lionel Messi in the future.
The Brazilian forward has shone in the Argentine's absence through injury since late September, but he has been blighted by a tax case off the pitch and the player's father admitted recently that he could consider leaving the Catalan club unless those problems are resolved.
"I think that what the club has to do is to come to an agreement with Neymar," Laporta told Goal in an exclusive interview ahead of the Clasico clash between Barcelona and Madrid on Saturday.
"Leo is the best player in the history of football and will be the king of football for many more years - the truth is he's the best and us culés are proud to have him. But Neymar is in that group of players destined to be, in the future, heirs to Leo's throne.
"He is perhaps Ronaldinho's heir. He has that way of playing that transmits joy and so the club need to do their work and make sure he stays for many more years at Barca."
Looking ahead to the match at the Bernabeu on Saturday, he added: "It will be exciting as always, the best spectacle in the world with the two best teams around at the moment for a game of football.
"And I honestly think Barca have the better team. They play more as a unit and Madrid are in that phase where they are adapting to a playing style. Ours is very much integrated. Barca can win at the Bernabeu, even though the team playing at home is always the favourite in a Clasico."
Laporta led Barca to spectacular success between 2003 and 2010, but the turning point against Madrid came in 2004 when a late Xavi goal set up by Ronaldinho changed the club's Clasico fortunes in a 2-1 win at the Bernabeu.
"Yes Sir! I remember that," he said. "Xavi lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper - it was very special.
"All of the victories at the Bernabeu, just like Madrid when they beat us, they are games that change a dynamic. And that match changed the dynamic. Barcelona had come from an era in which things hadn't gone well for us and we were in a new project.
"Winning at the Bernabeu always creates those synergies, that dynamic - and I think it was the start of everything."
The 53-year-old lawyer has hit out the current Barca board over the transfer ban they received for irregularities in the recruitment of youngsters at La Masia and also the lack of players coming through the academy, but spoke of his pride at seeing Sergi Robero and Sergio Busquets in such fine form in the lead-up to Saturday's match.
"I am critical of what this board of directors is doing, but in the week of the Clasico I feel strange talking about those things," he said.
"I prefer to talk about players like Sergi Roberto, who was an alternative for the first team from our time, a player who comes from La Masia and who is destined to become one of the first-choice midfielders at Barca or any other position because he has so much quality.
"Having learned from Xavi and Iniesta about Barcelona's system, he is destined to become one of the greats. And Busquets in midfield is in a fantastic moment as well. That's the La Masia I prefer to focus on, especially this week."
Laporta stood for election at Barca against Josep Maria Bartomeu in the summer, only to lose out to the current club chief. However, he says he will look to stand again in future.
"I said it after the elections: no surrender," he vowed. "In that respect I won't give in because I think we have a model that is valid for the club today and there is a lot we can bring to the table.
"In fact, what is working at Barca today is part of the model we contributed to build. Obviously, the models are made by the players and the coaches. But our success has lasted many years and we can say it has had continuity because what they have left in place from our time has worked.
"So I think we have a lot to offer and when the time comes, we'll see. I'm on the starting line. I'm in pole position!"
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