Neymar and his future: the saga has just started

For those who only read the first few lines. Yes, Neymar is considering if he should renew his contract with Barcelona or move to a top European club like Manchester United and the like. Does that mean he is moving to United for sure? No! Now read on When talking about time, the Irish, as they often do, have a phrase for it. “When God made time,” they say, “he made plenty of it.” Over in Barcelona at the moment no one knows this better than Neymar and his entourage, and while the club is fully aware that in terms of getting the Brazilian to renew his contract there’s probably ‘no time like the present’, Neymar could certainly be forgiven for thinking that, for him, there’s ‘no present like the time’. Which is why in the opening shots in what will become the Neymar ‘will-he , wont-he’ renewal saga, the player has got the ball rolling by coming out in a recent ibterview with ESPN with the ‘M’ word – Manchester, suffixed with United. There were “conversations” with United, he said. He adds of course that he hasn’t heard of any offer from the English club, but Globo Esporte has already published a story saying that United have offered to pay his buy out clause of 150 million euros, something that Barcelona, not unsurprisingly, deny. All this talk do serve the purpose of allowing Neymar’s father, who runs his son’s affairs, to effectively open up a line of communication with the English club, just in case. It’s also worth noting that there have been other contacts made from other clubs in the past year, not least Paris Saint Germain. The major difference here however is that Neymar knows that United could and would pay the price. So, unfortunately, do Barcelona so their haste to get the deal done is perhaps understandable. But of course it’s never as simple as that. What Neymar also knows is that now and for the foreseeable future, the number one at Barcelona is going to be Leo Messi. He has nothing against the Argentinian genius, in fact he is enormously respectful of him At Santos, the first time he and Pep Guardiola spoke was during the final of the World Cup Club Championships when he made it more than clear that his dream was to play at Barcelona with Messi. Such was his enthusiasm to play for them that despite the fact that Real Madrid made a huge effort to bring him to the capital even going as far as giving him a medical – the results of which were eventually used by the canny Catalans – he only ever had eyes for the ‘Blaugrana’ But that was then and this is now and he knows that if he aspires to be the world number one it will in the short term have to be somewhere else, because Messi is almost certainly going to be staying put for at least another four years. So what are the possibilities? Firstly there is always the chance that sooner rather than later we will see the announcement of the original ‘offer they couldn’t refuse’ where the figures are so high that he decides to stay. At the moment Barcelona are talking about getting it done and dusted by the beginning of next year while Neymar’s people have suggested waiting until after the 2016 Ballon D’Or where the Brazilian’s possible presence on the rostrum could well give rise to an upward adjustment to the figures on the table. Also, the knowledge that Manchester United will pay the price whatever that might be could delay it even further. Problem. Barcelona had almost reached the recommended ceiling of wages (70% of budget) and soon they also have to negotiate Messi’s new contract. Then there’s also the third option that he renews his contract, safe in the knowledge that four years down the line Messi will be 32, while he will be 27, in his prime and ready, willing and able to fill the ample shoes, probably soon to be vacated by the mercurial maestro. Only Neymar himself really knows what his preference is at this stage but I am convinced he has not decided yet. He also knows that he has nothing but time before he makes his mind up. So expect this saga to run and run.