New Barcelona winger Neymar has revealed that national teammate Dani Alves encouraged him to join the club.
Neymar joined the Primera Division champions for a reported fee of £50m this afternoon having had the option to move to Real Madrid instead.
The 21-year-old chose the Catalan club after consulting Alves, who has been at Barcelona since 2008, and is now keen to learn the language so that he can focus on football next season.
"Alves was one of the people who encouraged me to come and he's always said good things about the place," said Neymar.
"I'll try to improve my Catalan, I speak better Catalan than Castilian. I will try to adapt quickly so that I can relax and just play football."
Neymar has already spoken of his desire to play alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta.