The ManicaPost
NEYMAR’S shocking imminent switch to Paris Saint-Germain won’t come cheap for the French club, but Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said he doesn’t consider a price of around £200 million for the Brazilian to be expensive.
The Portuguese tactician, who shattered the world-record transfer fee by bringing Paul Pogba back to Old Trafford last year for £89.3 million, explained that expensive is a metric relative to quality, not simply a bottom-line figure.
“When we paid that amount for Paul (Pogba) I said that he was not expensive,” Mourinho told reporters following United’s 2-1 pre-season win over Sampdoria in Dublin, as quoted by The Independent’s Mark Critchley.
“Expensive are the ones that get into a certain level without a certain quality. I think with Neymar it is going to happen the same. I don’t think he’s expensive for £200 million.”
Mourinho added that Neymar’s move does, however, have the unfortunate side effect of raising the value of players across the market, even if their quality does not merit the price.
“I think he’s expensive for the fact that you are going to have more players of £100 million and more players of £80 million and more players of £60 million,” Mourinho said. — The Score
