Barcelona ace Neymar signed a contract extension 12 months ago, and as part of that deal his release clause is set to increase to £195m.
As noted by The Sun, the Brazilian international has been a target for Man Utd who had been ready to meet his £175m release clause in order to seal a sensational switch to Old Trafford.
However, it’s added how as part of the agreement between Neymar and the Catalan giants, on July 1, 2017, that clause will increase by £20m and will now stand at a whopping £195m.
To make matters worse for Man Utd, the deal is designed to make it gradually more and more difficult for a club to acquire Neymar, as the clause will continue to go up year-on-year.
In turn, it looks as though the Red Devils had their best chance at signing the former Santos starlet, and will likely now have to give up any long-term ambition of taking him to Manchester.
The theory that Neymar wants to get out of Lionel Messi’s shadow will never go away it seems, but the longer he continues to play a fundamental role for Barca and wins trophies, it’s difficult to see him moving elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Messi turned 30 this month, and so Neymar is arguably going to be the future of the club as the Argentine ace ages, and so there are plenty of reasons as to why a move to United won’t happen.
Neymar scored 20 goals and provided 27 assists in 45 appearances in all competitions last season, and he’ll hope to continue to play a pivotal role for new boss Ernesto Valverde as of next season.