Even then. Going to Ligue 1 is a massive step down. And it screams that he lacks ambition. His best chance to become the main man here would have been next season after the World Cup, if he managed to lead Brazil to gold.
Will never happen, Messi is too damn Iconic to FCB for them to ask him to play second fiddle.
I think there is something we aren't being told here.
Prior to last season Neymar had a more advanced role that saw him almost playing as a no 9... The channel to all our counter attacks.
Last season he played as a provider and almost always tried to feed the ball through to Messi.
I want to guess he was hoping that this season Messi would be playing in Midfield, allowing him space to be the main guy upfront again but was told otherwise by the New team manager.
This is just me assuming, but could be well what happened considering this whole thing started out of the blue.