With less than two weeks left in the transfer window, the rumors are flying fast and furious. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if there is any truth to a transfer rumor, but that is not the case with The Sun’s story that Manchester United are in talks to sign Barcelona forward Neymar.
According to paper, United chief executive Ed Woodward discussed the stunning transfer during his recent trip to Catalonia.
A Barca source told the paper:
“United are one of the biggest clubs in the world so it is right they should be chasing a player who has the potential to be the best player on the planet.”
Can we just call this one now as bullshit. It is not going to happen. Neymar is playing in a side that just won a treble and he is part of the best attacking trio in the world. Plus Barca gave him and his father something like €50m to sign for them a couple of seasons ago. So he is not leaving the Camp Nou for Old Trafford.
But the rumor does underline a problem that Manchester United are having once again this summer and that is wasting a lot of time and effort on players they cannot sign. Ramos, Bale, Mueller, Kane, Goetze are all players that United have been lined with this summer but realistically have had little or no chance of signng.
United CEO Ed Woodward seems to have this shinny toy syndrome in that his attention keeps being drawn from the players he should be signing, Pedro and Nicolas Otamendi for example, to the likes of Mueller and Ramos, and he ends up losing the players that were available.
It’s happened for three summers in a row now, and Woodward’s inability to close the deal is hurting United’s chances of winning the league.
