Sidney Sladen
Spanish newspaper Sport has made a sensational claim that Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho has been contacting Neymar personally in order to persuade the Brazilian monster to move to Manchester.
It appears that Jose Mourinho believes that Neymar is the player to carry forward the Manchester United legacy, with the manager seemingly keen on putting an end to the over-reliance for goals on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
United are currently placed 6th in the league table and are aiming to win EFL cup final against Southampton, with Europa League success as well looking like a possibility.
Ibrahimovic has 16 goals in the league this season, and the next highest scorer in United’s squad is Juan Mata – with six Premier League strikes.
Paul Pogba has four goals to his name, but strikers Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford have only managed three in the league, thus demonstrating United’s dependency on 35-year-old Ibrahimovic. With the Swede yet to agree a contract extension at the club, a move for Neymar does seem sensible.
Neymar meanwhile has not matched his exploits of 2014/15 and 2015/16 season where he scored 39 and 31 goals respectively. This term, however, the Brazilian has scored just 10 goals in 30 games so far.
He also gave a remarkable 27 assists last season, compared to 11 assists in the season before that, suggesting that the player has improved his gameplay completely and can now play his teammates in, and also finish things off on his own.
This season, he has provided 19 assists in 30 games, which shows that he hasn’t been struggling to link-up with his teammates. Neymar may not have matched his goal scoring exploits of the previous two seasons, but still remains one of the best in the business without doubt.
A move to England might seem a distant possibility with his contract at Barcelona running until 2021. He would certainly not come at a cheaper price. It would take much more than even Paul Pogba’s fee, given the inflated market that it currently is for attackers.
Moreover, it would be next to impossible for Manchester United to convince Barcelona to sell one of their prized assets. Neymar is seen as the successor to Barcelona’s South American legacy that has been following since Ronaldinho’s days and the 25-year old Neymar will carry the team on his shoulders after Leo Messi’s retirement.
Thus it would be really difficult for Manchester United to pull this off. Nevertheless, nothing is a given surety in football, and anything could happen.
Who would not spare a thought about playing for a club like Manchester United wearing the No.7 jersey?
