'New Neymar' link fails to consider Santos FC's situation

Sorry to go all Negative Nancy on you this morning, kids, but all of the transfer rumors that have come out recently don't pass the smell test and aren't even mildly interesting. Still, I feel obligated to post about most of them and explain exactly why they don't make much sense. Next up is Metro's story linking us to the 'New Neymar'.

The talented young man goes by the name of Neilton, and he looks like a great talent. The 19-year-old has been given the difficult task of replacing Neymar at Santos and has done well, scoring three goals in his five Brasileirao starts so far this season, with two of those goals coming in a 4-1 win over Portuguesa next season. He's similar to Neymar in that he's a tricky forward who can operate in multiple positions, but would be best suited for a wide forward spot in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 for most European teams.

Obviously he's not as far advanced at his age as Neymar was at 19, but he looks to have a bright future. Metro says Spurs are readying a £7m bid, which is probably about what he's worth to Spurs and most European clubs on Spurs' level. He's a very talented young player and absolutely worth that much money.

Unfortunately for Spurs and other suitors, he's worth a heck of a lot more to Santos. Besides the Neymar sale, they just sold Felipe Anderson to Lazio for €8m and fetched a decent fee for Paulo Henrique Ganso the year prior. They've also sold Alex Sandro and Danilo in recent years. Santos is a team of limited financial means, but they've sold a ton of talent to balance their books recently.

Neymar's departure means that Neilton is worth infinitely more to Santos than he is to Tottenham or anyone else in Europe. If they have any aspirations to finish high in the Brasileirao table and make a return to Copa Libertadores, they simply can't afford to sell him. The fact that they've brought in Walter Montillo to replace Ganso and that Arouca hasn't been sold indicates that they do have those aspirations, even if they were unable to hold their top players back.

I think we'll see Neilton at a fairly big club in a fairly big league in a couple of years, but he's not coming to Tottenham for £7m this summer.