Why Manchester United did not sign Neymar

Neymar has lifted the European Cup, struck the winning penalty that finally elevated Brazil to the gold medal podium at an Olympics, graced three World Cups in three different continents and he remains the game's record transfer.

Yet many will pause, hesitate or demur about mentioning Neymar in the same breath as Brazil's immortals. He could and should have been in that pantheon but he continues to disappoint.

Neymar may have felt railroaded into joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 but he still downgraded from Barcelona for a meretricious club that is now counting the cost of their gáláctico era. Neymar and Messi are gone and Kylian Mbappe is going, sooner or later.

Some did their utmost to treat the notion of his joining Manchester United seriously a few months back and Erik ten Hag did not discredit the rumours. Call it Dutch diplomacy.

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Ten Hag used a stock phrase: "When we have news we will tell you." Those unfamiliar with it and incapable of conducting research ran with that as if a deal was imminent. There was also the tenuous connection of the Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani's offer to buy United. The PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is an associate of Sheikh Jassim's.

Neymar has maintained his Gulf connection by upping sticks for Saudi Arabia, joining Al-Hilal. The Saudi Pro League now boasts Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema yet a game-changing transfer continues to elude them.

Agency sources say the Saudi Pro League is also targeting players in their prime. Ruben Neves and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic are among the 20-somethings who have taken the plunge but those players linked with marquee moves that never materialised. So