Curiously, Real Madrid have made an official statement denying Spanish state television reports they have offered Paris Saint-Germain €300m for Neymar.
The statement on the TVE report read:
‘Given the information issued tonight by TVE on a supposed offer from Real Madrid for Neymar, Real Madrid state that this information is outright false. Real Madrid has not made any kind of offer to PSG or the player.
‘Real Madrid is surprised that Spanish public television has been able to broadcast absolutely false information without anyone from the club being contacted about the alleged information that could easily have been denied.’
Neymar has no release clause in his contract until 2019 and PSG have stated up until now that he is not for sale.
But if the world record bid is genuine they could reconsider especially in light of how well Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani are performing at the World Cup.
TVE said on Monday night that as well as offering £80m more for Neymar than PSG paid Barcelona for him last season, they were also offering the player £40m a season net and a seven year deal.
Paris Saint-Germain chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi has already said this summer that Neymar will ‘2,000 per cent’ still be with the French champions again next season.
Last summer Barcelona said they were ‘200 per cent sure’ he would remain with them.
The suggestion that Real Madrid are willing to pay Neymar £40m over seven seasons will not go down well with Cristiano Ronaldo who wants a smiliar deal over a shorter period.
If Neymar left Paris, Ronaldo would top the list of possible replacements.
Real Madrid carried some of the blame in Spain on Monday as the nation held the inquest for its failed World Cup campaign.
Valencia sports paper Super Deporte put the club’s president on its front page with the headline: ‘Satisfied?’ accusing the insistence on announcing Julen Lopetegui as new Spain coach two days before the World Cup started as having irrevocably unsettled the team in Russia.
