Pedro exit delayed?

Neymar’s illness could see Pedro Rodriguez’s move away from Barcelona and to Manchester United delayed until after the Super Cup fixtures.

The Brazil international has been diagnosed with mumps and will be missing for a minimum of 15 days, ruling him out of both the UEFA Super Cup with Sevilla and the Supercopa de Espana double-header against Athletic Bilbao.

Sport reported shortly after Neymar’s illness was made public that representatives from Barca and United were meeting on Saturday in an attempt to close the transfer of Pedro.

But both Sport and Marca claim Barca want to delay the transfer until either Neymar is healthy or the Super Cup fixtures have been played.

Marca add that Luis Enrique, who has been against the sale of Pedro from the start, would use either Sandro Ramirez or Munir El Haddadi if one of his regular front three – Neymar, Lionel Messi or Luis Suarez – was unavailable at some point in the season.

The young pair are though described as ‘inadequate and risky’ by Marca, and deploying Pedro in the first finals of the season is the preferred option.

United did want Pedro on their books in time for the Champions League qualifiers but the last date of registration is Monday, making that highly unlikely.

Pedro could still be registered by United for later in the tournament, while Marca also suggest Manchester City are showing late interest in Pedro.

Sport note that United were pushing to complete Pedro’s signing but it’s fully expected the winger will start against Sevilla on Tuesday in Georgia.

Tags Manchester United Neymar Pedro Rodriguez
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