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I don't know about the rest of you but whenever I see the name 'Wagner Ribeiro' I brace myself for bad news regarding Neymar. But it's not exactly news, is it? It's just a bad-news-sounding quote from an agent known to cause problems. Take them for what they're worth, and file them away for your 'punch Wagner Ribeiro in the face' file*. Today he's claiming thaat Neymar won't leave Santos for less than £41M, which is far, far, far too much money. But, consider the source!
Last year Santos received an offer of £32 million from Chelsea and it was rejected. Now he would not leave for less than £41 million. Neymar is like Messi. Soon he will be the best in the world as he is a player like no other. He is just 19 but all the big clubs are following him.
-Wagner Ribeiro, Neymar's agent. Source: Sun.
I don't think this is just me in a state of denial. I'd be perfectly happy to pass on Neymar with the (many) alternatives open to us at wide forward or up the middle. I just no longer consider Neymar's agent to be a good source. There've been too many flat contradictions of things that Neymar has said coming from Ribeiro for my liking. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ribeiro fired at some point this summer.
Anyway, £41M is too much, with the far more developed Alexis Sanchez (supposedly) going for 75% of that cost. If Chelsea pull the trigger at that price, they're pants on head crazy. I like Neymar a lot, but not that much. If this is legit, it's time to focus on other targets for a while, and then laugh as Ribeiro and Santos realise they're not going to be able to cash in again.
*SB Nation does not condone or endorse violent in any form**.
**SB Nation also does not condone or endorse footnotes in any form.