Ed Woodward would have had to line up seven new tyre sponsors, a salad sponsor and start pre-season tours in February to make this work.
There are only three European clubs that could possibly hope to foot the bill for Neymar’s wages. He left one of them to join the other, and the third of them has already splurged €300 million on six summer transfers… so far.
The Brazilian is on the look out for a return to La Liga, having left Barcelona for Paris Saint Germain two seasons ago, but he has a short list on potential destinations.
China is an option, and their top clubs could stretch for a Neymar, but he does not want to team up with the likes of Hulk or Marouane Fellaini just yet.
Manchester United could just about afford to get the 27-year-old in and, no doubt, get him to record a cringey announcement video [perhaps playing a trombone this time] but Woodward currently has a grip of his senses.
(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)PSG reportedly approached United with a proposal for a direct swap of Neymar for Paul Pogba. According to The Independent, United felt a Neymar deal would be ‘too expensive to justify’.
The report claims Pogba wants to go to Real Madrid while Neymar is eager for a return to Barcelona. Given their lucrative contracts, wishful thinking and comments to the press may not cut it.
Woodward, and United, rejected the swap proposal for two reasons:
- Neymar is on a weekly wage of £900,000 at Paris Saint Germain. Getting him to Old Trafford would nuke the club’s pay structure. There is already resentment in the club at Alexis Sanchez’ basic £350k a week [rising up to £500k if certain bonuses are met].
- The United executive vice president wants to hang onto Paul Pogba
The World Cup winner had his best scoring and assist return for United last time out, despite tapering into and out of the 2018/19 season.
Woodward has been responsible for a few rickets in his time at United, from a footballing point of view, but we are all in favour of this rejection.
