Moura to snub United for PSG

Brazilian midfielder Lucas Moura has openly confirmed he has held talks with Paris St. Germain over a possible transfer in January of 2013. It has been another annoying saga for Manchester United fans but to make it worse, we’re probably going to lose out again.

On Saturday night we were lead to believe Moura would travel up from Newcastle to undergo a medical at United. Negations between São Paulo and ourselves seem to have went bust, but should we be surprised or disappointed?

Neither. São Paulo are asking for too much for nothing more than a prospect. Moura hasn’t done anything in the game to be valued at £30+ million. His agent Wagner Ribeiro will apparently get a huge bonus from the supposed PSG move. However, the same thing happened with Eden Hazard at Chelsea, so I guess this is where the game is heading. Agents will continue to hold clubs at ransom and forget about their actual job. A lot of them seem to be working for their best interest instead of their client.

“I cannot talk about it, I’m focused on the Brazil team,” he said in an interview with Brazil’s Globo. “I can speak about it after the Olympics. But talks are under way, although they are not done yet.”

Lucas hasn’t featured much in the Olympics this summer, only managing to start one game. Neymar has been an absolute joy to watch but you can’t ignore Chelsea’s new signing Oscar, who’s seemingly a great player. Watching him at London 2012 made me wonder why we didn’t show any interest.

French newspaper L’Equipe reported Wednesday that Moura could move to PSG in January of 2013 for €45 million (£36 million). Agent fees are probably tied in somewhere but I wouldn’t expect United to compete with that, especially under the Glazer ownership. Inter Milan have pulled out of the race to sign Moura as a result.

“I spoke to (PSG defender) Thiago Silva and (sporting director) Leonardo and they spoke very well. I know they are building a wonderful project at this club, with a fantastic structure and major players. That is what they said. No doubt it would be better if I can help Sao Paulo a little bit more, though. I said before I want to win a title before leaving and qualify for the Copa Libertadores. I can do this with Sao Paulo if the transfer happens in January.”