Lionel Messi promised one teammate he'd help him win the Ballon d'Or in his career but it never happened

Lionel Messi promised to make Neymar a Ballon d'Or winner in a last-gasp attempt to keep the Brazilian at Barcelona prior to his move to PSG.

Neymar joined Barcelona from Santos in 2013 and went on to win La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey three times, as well as the UEFA Champions League and Club World Cup.

The Brazilian made up one-third of football's most feared strike force alongside Messi and Luis Suarez at the Catalan club.

In the 409 games that 'MSN' played together at Barcelona, they scored 344 goals and provided 157 assists.

The trio looked to have football in a choke hold for years to come, but in 2017 Neymar made the shock decision to leave Barcelona for PSG.

The move completely changed the transfer market due to the £198m release clause paid by PSG for Neymar's services, however, Messi was desperate for his wing partner to stay.

According to Sport’s Ivan San Antonio, Messi confronted Neymar just days before his move and promised the Brazilian the Ballon d'Or to stay at the Nou Camp.

The report claims Messi told Neymar: "What do you want?’ Do you want to be a Ballon d’Or [winner]? I’ll make you the Ballon d’Or."

The alleged conversation happened at the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel in New Jersey, as Barcelona prepared to face Juventus in pre-season, which could be Neymar's last game for the club.

Neymar had previously been Barcelona's key man in their staggering 6-1 comeback against PSG, however, Messi was still the poster boy of the result for the Spanish press.

Rumours at the time in Spain claimed that this was the moment Neymar knew he had to leave to achieve his goal, with the forward seemingly unable to escape Messi's shadow.

Following confirmation of Neymar's move to Paris, Messi took to Instagram to send a farewell message to his former teammate.

He posted: "It was an enormous pleasure to have shared these years with you my friend @neymarjr I wish you luck in this new stage of your life."

Lionel Messi and Neymar celebrating in 2017- Getty

Speaking recently on former Brazil star Romario's podcast, Neymar revealed the real reason behind his move was due to the Brazilian contingent at the Ligue 1 club.

"I didn’t leave Barca to be the best in the world at PSG," Neymar via 442.

"Messi asked, ‘Why are you leaving? Do you want to be the best player in the world? I can make you the best player in the world.’ I told him, ‘No, it’s not that, it’s something personal.’

"Obviously financially, it was better than what I had at Barcelona and there were Brazilians there too. I just wanted to play with the Brazilians. There was Thiago Silva, Dani Alves just signed, Marquinhos, Lucas Moura. They were all my friends," he added.