Neymar’s father confirms Man United’s £145m bid for Barca star

Neymar’s father has confirmed Manchester United were the club that saw a £145million offer rejected for the Barcelona star last summer.

Neymar Snr revealed in court this week that there was a side who had made it clear they were willing to meet his son’s huge Nou Camp buy-out clause.

And now the third-best player in the world’s father has now named United as his big-spending suitor.

Louis van Gaal had spoken at length at his wish to add extra pace and creativity to his forward line at Manchester United, and several newspapers over the summer claimed United were keen on the Brazilian forward.

But until now, there had been no official word that United had actually made a bid for the player that would have taken their spending under Van Gaal from £205million in his 18 months in charge to £350million.

“Manchester United is the side that offered €190m for Neymar,” the player’s father told radio station COPE.

“He has still two years left on his contract but you can all be calm as my son is so happy here.”

Neymar Snr was reported to have made reference to the offer during a court case this week but left the club unnamed until now.

He was in court as part of a case brought by Brazilian third-party investment fund DIS against himself, Neymar, Santos and Barcelona over the exact fee paid for his son’s services in 2013.

Neymar, 23, is the world’s emerging superstar and finished third in last month’s Ballon d’Or voting to decide the best player of the past year.

He was placed behind team-mate Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo who are five and seven years older than him respectively.

The Brazil forward’s partnership with Messi and Luis Suarez at Barcelona is widely regarded as the best in world football following their treble triumph last season.

The current world transfer record is held by Gareth Bale’s move from Tottenham to Real Madrid, valued at £85.1m. United’s huge offer for Neymar would have increased that by 65 per cent had it been successful.