Correa to AC Milan, PSG confirm they are in advanced talks to sell Neymar, Real Madrid's rivals confident of signing James Rodriguez and more: LaLiga Transfer Roundup, 10 August 2019

Ernesto Valverde not sure about Neymar; hopes Rakitic will stay

Neymar (left), Luis Suarez (centre) and Ivan Rakitic (right)

Speaking to the press, Ernesto Valverde maintained that he does not know how the Neymar transfer saga is going to play out. Valverde deflected the questions and refused to give a definitive answer with Real Madrid now becoming favourites to sign the Brazilian ahead of Barcelona.

On Neymar, Valverde said,

"We'll see what happens. The classic response is that he plays for another team and that's that,"

"All I know is that I'm the manager and I only think about the players I have. They are the ones I'll be using tomorrow.

"As it stands, I don't know what is going to happen."

On Rakitic's future, he said,

"He is very important for us,"

"His work is there. Right now, I don't know if he will stay. I count on him as I have.

"In principle, nothing makes me think that I won't be able to count on him."

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Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

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Edited by Sripad