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This summer’s transfer window has not been short of drama with a raft of big names making moves across the globe, as clubs fine-tune their squads for the upcoming campaign.
Manchester United have not been shy in splashing the cash with Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund joining Erik ten Hag’s ranks for a combined fee north of £150 million.
The emergence of the Saudi Pro league has been another major story of the summer with the market being blown apart by some of the eye-watering figures shelled out from the Middle East.
Brazilian star Neymar looks to be the latest big name on the way to Saudi but not before making his attempts to stay in Europe.
As reported by the Independent, the outgoing PSG forward was offered to all the leading clubs on the continent but the majority were not interested in entertaining a deal for the superstar.
“All of Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City turned down a chance to sign to bring the 31-year-old in, primarily due to a huge transfer and similar salary package,” writes Miguel Delaney.
Barcelona were the only side open to giving Neymar a chance to stay in Europe but they couldn’t come up with the financial package required to close the deal even on a loan with an option-to-buy basis.
“The only club who were interested were his former side Barcelona, but they only wanted Neymar on loan with an option to buy, and that still required the exit of at least four players to make happen,” says Delaney.
Neymar’s lack of options looks to have led him to Saudi. Al-Hilal have agreed a €90million transfer fee with PSG and are believed to be offering a whopping €200m-a-year salary to the player.
Should the deal go through it would be yet another major coup for the Saudi Pro League who appear to stop at nothing in their resolve to build their standing in the game.
Neymar would have certainly provided Erik ten Hag with another quality option in his front line.
However, they already have plenty of options on Neymar’s preferred left-wing spot with the emergence of Alejandro Garnacho and it being Marcus Rashford‘s preferred position. Furthermore, his injury problems could have made his contract age badly.
Therefore, given the money involved and everything else that comes with the Brazilian, United were wise to pass on this particular deal
