Sunday, August 7, 2011

Santos firm over starlets

Santos firm over starlets

Santos president Luis Alvaro Ribeiro has again insisted that neither of their prized assets Neymar or Ganso will be leaving. Neymar, 19, has been tracked closely by Real Madrid, whilst Chelsea and Manchester City have also been linked. Ganso has also been linked with many European clubs, most recently big spending Paris Saint Germain, however, Ribeiro insists that talk of a move for either player is not true. On Neymar, who Real have made a bid for, he insisted he did not want to sell either now or in January when he is being tipped to move to Spain. "We have no interest in selling Neymar and we have formally communicated this," Ribeiro said. "It's the same proposal. We had been given until end of the month to respond and had already decided the answer was no and now we've formalised this. "The offer had two possibilities - take it now or later, but we do not want either." Ganso Ribeiro also insisted that Ganso, who was linked with both Milan clubs, would be staying put after talks. "I had a conversation with him and he said he was committed and I thanked him and praised his behaviour," he said. "He still has time to move in the future." Ribeiro denied that PSG's sporting director made an offer for Ganso, adding: "There has been no offer from Leonardo, he called me when I was in Paris and we talked - he talked about Neymar being an essential player, but I said no and we said our goodbyes." Meanwhile, one Santos player who has made his departure is Danilo, who has completed his move to Porto. The Brazilian youth international has followed former team-mate Alex Sandro to the club as he only signed for the Portuguese champions last month.