Romario has accused the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) of ruining the country's proud footballing heritage and claimed that the governing body have not only failed Selecao captain Neymar but the national team as a whole.

Brazil were humiliated as hosts of last year's World Cup by being routed 7-1 in the semi-finals by eventual champions Germany and are now desperately looking for answers again after losing on penalties to Paraguay in the last eight of the Copa America.

However, former Selecao striker Romario says he knows exactly who is to blame, arguing that the national team is paying the price for the CBF's alleged greed.

"I do not need to talk much about the shame that we have suffered in seeing our Selecao struggle on the field," he is quoted as saying by SPORT. "But the problem goes far beyond the pitch.

"The disintegration of our football is happening at all levels and stems from the CBF.

"In recent years, they have only thought of [lining] their own pockets and continue sucking everything they can [out of the game].

"Football has survived until now because of the talent on the field. Brazil had enough players to build two great teams, but today they cannot even make one. This is a reflection of the lack of investment and management [by the CBF]."

Romario then singled out CBF president Marco Polo Del Nero for special criticism, claiming that his decision not to travel to Chile for the Copa America symbolised the lack of support for Neymar, whose tournament was ended by a four-match ban incurred for his dismissal after the full-time whistle in Brazil's group-stage loss to Colombia.

"If there had been leaders in Chile, Neymar most likely would not have had such a hard punishment," the former Barcelona forward added. "He had to have a strong legal support to ensure that the punishment was milder.

"Neymar is the star of Brazil and will now miss the first two games of the qualifying for World Cup 2018."

Barcelona made all the sporting headlines earlier this afternoon when news broke that their appeal against their Fifa-imposed transfer ban had failed, meaning they will not be able to sign any more players until January 2016. We think a forward line of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is pretty dreamy, while a certain Italian legend and a future Real Madrid idol may also have moved to Catalonia only to end up elsewhere by circumstance.

Here, we take a look at 10 Players You Didn’t Know Barcelona Almost Signed:

Gianluigi Buffon is a Juventus legend. Signed from Parma in 2001, the goalkeeper has helped his side win five Serie A titles, four Supercoppa Italianas and is widely accepted as one of the best keepers in the world. But he could have plied his trade at Barcelona instead.

And he nearly ended up in Spain instead. After leaving German side Hamburger SV in 2008, Kompany revealed he came close to joining Barcelona “a few times“. He said: “I have been close to signing for Barca a few times, there were contacts, but recently, officially, I can assure you that there has been nothing that I know of.”

Juan Mata began his career with Barcelona’s fierce rivals Real Madrid, emerging from their academy in 2006 and playing 39 times for their B team. scoring 10 times. However, he never made it big in Spain and didn’t make a single appearance for their senior side. Nevertheless, there was reported interest from Barcelona, and the creative midfielder came close to signing.

Former AC Milan star Kaka could have been a Barcelona star, had Milan been prepared to agree to a player exchange involving the Brazilian and Ronaldinho. Kaka was at the San Siro at the time plying his trade for the Milanese outfit when former Barcelona president Joan Laporta had dinner with Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi.

Fernando Morientes is a Real Madrid legend, but in 2002, when the striker was at the peak of his powers, he came perilously close to crossing the Clasico divide by signing for Barcelona in highly-complex circumstances. At the time, Real were trying to negotiate a deal with Inter Milan for Ronaldo, but the Italians were keen to include Morientes as part of the deal, knowing they could sell him on to Barca for a profit as the Catalans’ chief Joan Gaspart was known to be keen on the €24 million forward.