Barcelona appear to have taken the upper hand in the race for Brazilian starlet Neymar, with his international team-mate Dani Alves urging him to join the Nou Camp outfit.

Manchester City and Chelsea are reportedly willing to splash the cash to bring the 20-year-old to the Premier League, but it is believed that the encouragement of one of his follow countrymen may sway his decision.

The right-back has openly encouraged the Santos attacker to join Barca, saying that it will be the best possible move to further his career:

“Obviously anybody would want to play for Barcelona.” He is quoted by The Metro.

“If Barcelona are interested in Neymar and if next month, next year or in two years he comes, I don't know.

“I hope he does come here because, as I've already said, he would get better as a player and he would also improve the team.”

If he were to join the Catalan giants, it’s likely that he would be playing alongside Lionel Messi, in what would be a fearsome attack.

Reports have circulated that Alves has put Neymar in contact with the Argentine, however he denies this.

Neither of the English duo are out of the race for highly-rated youngster, with both club’s able to offer him an extremely lucrative deal to join them.

Big spending Russians Anzhi Makhachkala are also interested, as are Real Madrid.