Why Neymar Will Not Leave Barcelona for Manchester United Any Time Soon

Neymar has been the subject of much speculation just recently.

The Barcelona starlet is reportedly wanted by Manchester United to become their global face of the club.

Rumours began swirling around when Shaun Custis of the Sun noted that:

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A top Barcelona source has told SunSport the Red Devils have made a discreet approach to the La Liga champions.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been to Barca three times in the last two months with all the talk being about United’s chase for Pedro.

But, under the radar, Woodward has made an audacious bid for Neymar.

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While it my indeed be true that the Red Devils have made an approach—Brazilian daily Globoesporte, via AS, also report a €190 million bid—the chances of the player leaving anytime soon are non-existent.

For a start, Neymar's ex-girlfriend Carol Dantas has moved from Brazil to Barcelona on a permanent basis so that the star can be closer to their son David Lucca.

Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

According to uol Esporte via Sport, the youngster has also been registered with a Catalan school and he will stay with his mother at a property paid for by Neymar. The benefit to the player of having his son close by is obvious.

Back in June, Pete Jenson of the Daily Mail noted that Barca's outgoing, but re-elected club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, promised to increase Neymar's salary so that he would become the club's second best-paid player behind Lionel Messi. His contract would also be extended to 2020.

David Ramos/Getty Images

The initial proposals would appear to have been agreed by both player and club at around the turn of the year, according to Xavi Canals of Sport, the report noting even back then that Neymar had made an unequivocal statement:

"Sure I will renew, it's impossible to be happier than I am at Barcelona. I'm very happy with the decision I made to play at Barca."

The fact that the player has still yet to put pen to paper is no doubt what has given rise to the rumours in the first place, but these things generally take time.

Ed Woodward deserves some kudos for at least testing the waters in the mean time but he has been made to look completely foolish.

Wagner Ribeiro, Neymar's agent, told GloboEsporte, via Sky Sports:

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There is nothing. He has three years left on his contract. 

The British newspapers are very speculative. Barcelona have never thought of selling Neymar and he is very happy there.

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And he had already told Sport earlier in the year that: 

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We have a proposal to extend Neymar's Barcelona contract until 2020. The player is happy at the club and the club is happy with the player. 

The relationship is magnificent.

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If anyone still remains unconvinced, then esteemed Spanish football journalist and B/R columnist Guillem Balague tweeted this:

As if to cement the ties between player and club, Neymar's father, through his company NR Sports, continues to seek sponsors for Barcelona in Brazil, per Sport.

Great players will always be of interest to the bigger clubs and Manchester United, as is their absolute right, have positioned themselves to be at the head of the queue should the situation somehow change.

However, looking at the situation objectively, you have to wonder why the Old Trafford club ever felt they would be in with a genuine chance of the player's signature in any event.

Presently playing alongside Messi—whom Neymar has often described as the best in the world—and Luis Suarez, the Brazilian has been a full part of a striking trio that is seen as the best is history. A hundred and twenty-two goals in a season would appear to support that theory.

And being part of a treble-winning side full of world-class exponents who are top of the domestic and European footballing tree.

There really is nothing to suggest that the player would want to swap that and the sunnier climbs of Barcelona for a team still in transition and well behind the standards set by Sir Alex Ferguson some years previously. 

In terms of achievements Neymar can, and probably will, achieve everything that he desires at Barca.

There's little doubt that he will usurp Messi as a future Ballon d'Or winner in the future, and become the new kingpin at Camp Nou. Indeed, on an individual level, the world is his oyster.

From a team perspective, the club have the FIFA transfer ban lifted in just a few short months and, rest assured, they will have no shortage of players wanting to join the success story that Barcelona currently is.

Anything that Manchester United can do or offer, Barca can match or do better. Better luck next time Ed...