By NEIL CUSTIS
MANCHESTER UNITED made a £38m deadline day attempt to land Brazil superstar Neymar.
The club record bid failed when the Santos ace, 20, said he wanted to stay put until after his country had hosted the 2014 World Cup.
United boss Alex Ferguson’s approach puts Wayne Rooney’s position at the club even further into question and the Scot will not be afraid to try again for the goalscoring sensation in the January transfer window.
United turned to Neymar after losing out to Paris St Germain in the chase for another Brazilian, Lucas Moura.
They had offered £32m for the Sao Paulo 19-year-old but the French club landed him for £38m.
Ferguson promptly turned to Neymar, who has hit 113 goals in 190 games for Santos but the bold approach failed.
It would have been the joint-highest fee paid for a player from outside the UK — alongside Manchester City’s purchase of Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid — and taken the club’s spending this summer to £80m.
Real Madrid and Barcelona have also courted Neymar, who scored three goals at the Olympic Games before Brazil lost the final to Mexico.
