Barcelona’s financial situation means they are not quite in the position to muscle their way in on players that they once were. However it doesn’t mean they have given up on obtaining the ones they really want.
One of those appears to Ruben Neves. The Portuguese midfielder is one of the few in world football that Barcelona see as capable of taking the mantel from pivote Sergio Busquets, 14 years after he came into the first team. Their accounts are preventing them from making a move this summer however.
According to The Sun, even Manchester United have been priced out of a move for Neves. The other major club linked most closely with Neves, Erik ten Hag’s side are also unwilling to meet Wolves’ £75m price tag.
Yet Catalan paper Sport say that Barcelona are not put off by that. They intend on waiting until next summer in order to come again for Neves. At that point he would have a year left on his contract and would be valued at around €40m (£34.43m).
That would place Wolves in a tricky situation if that were to be the case. They may be tempted to accept a lower offer than their original asking price from Manchester United if they are set to lose out on a significant amount of money. Barcelona on the other hand are risking that something along those lines does not happen this summer.
Or Neves could sign the contract on the table.
And he could be told that if we get a £70m bid it will be accepted.
My feeling is they discussed it with him already and he understood wolves would need that much to replace him. That’s just how it is.
And it’s a joke that United, Arsenal and Newcaslblad Jihadi are baulking at the price considering Philips has just gone for £45m… But then again he has played for a top half team that has played in Europe, captained in the champions League and plays for a national team that has won so much it doesn’t have to resort to constantly mentioning the 1966 world cup… Oh wait.