Sky Sports quotes Barcelona boss Luis Enrique today who, when asked about the future of Neymar and his contract at the club, said:
“I think he’ll end up renewing,”
Managers don’t tend to put their necks on the line unless they have to and we fully expect Neymar to stay at his club.
In truth was there ever really a time when he wasn’t going to stay?
Manchester United were linked with a huge bid or the player recently and Neymar himself admitted that:
“We had conversations, but there was nothing concrete.”
But it just seems like another case of Manchester United being willingly used as a bargaining stick by players with which to batter their clubs for better contracts.
It’s great for Manchester United to be ambitious. But they also need to be realistic – don’t waste resources on pipe dreams.
Neymar is 23 years old and playing for The Champions League holders in a hot climate, very much like his home in Brazil.
So the thought of him wanting to join Manchester United at this stage of his career should have been laughed off by the United board immediately.
This may well have been the case but the idea of Manchester United wasting time and effort to chase players who clearly aren’t going to come will annoy disenchanted supporters even further.
The same happened with Sergio Ramos in the summer. We all knew that he would sign a new deal at Real Madrid didn’t we? Everyone except Louis van Gaal perhaps. He said at the time:
“I have said already in a lot of press conferences, it’s a process and maybe Mr. Ramos is in the process, you never know.”
Manchester United should forget about signing full-blown A-listers and concentrate on scouring the world for young talent like Anthony Marital.
