This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
Just as we thought we were about to get some rest from all the Neymar stories, Globoesporte published an interview with the Brazilian’s former president, Jose Carlos Peres, who claims that the player is definitely heading to Real Madrid.
And that, even though it sounds good on paper, would be an extremely bad move for Los Blancos.
What’s the word, then?
Even though Barcelona were chasing Neymar for almost the entirety of the summer – only for him to stay at Paris Saint-Germain – it now seems that we’ve seen another big twist in the story.
Before the Brazilian joined Blaugrana way back in 2013, he was playing for Santos in his homeland.
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And according to Peres, his former club are entitled to a percentage of Neymar’s supposed transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, regardless of the club he chooses in the end.
But the Santos president seems to be extremely confident that the Brazilian superstar is actually heading to Real Madrid and not to Barcelona, and he said so himself when talking to Globoesporte.
“(The money) will still come! He will go to Real Madrid, if not now, it will be at the end of the year,” Peres stated in his interview.
And if this is true, it could spell even more headache for Zinedine Zidane.
An unbalanced team
Real Madrid’s transfer window was far from perfect. Apart from the arrival of Eden Hazard, hardly anyone slots right into the starting lineup and directly strengthens the team.
Neymar, for all his skill and reputation, would likely do exactly that but he would be an extremely costly acquisition that would hardly solve Real Madrid’s major concerns.
He would no doubt drain most of their resources and after spending close to £300m this year, it remains to be seen whether they can do a repeat next year.
But even if they financially can justify it, there’s still the question of whether another winger is actually needed in the squad. Currently, Real Madrid have five natural left-wingers and an additional three players who can also play there. So, theoretically, Neymar would be the ninth available option in that role.
Other areas should be their priority going forward. They’re missing a substitute for Casemiro in defensive-midfield, more competition in the central areas for the likes of Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos and especially refreshment in defence.
Going for Neymar would only limit their potential in the upcoming transfer windows and would further unbalance the squad.
For those reasons, they should simply stay away from him altogether.
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