At least that’s what La Liga president Javier Tebas has claimed after the Brazil international joined Paris St-Germain in a world-record deal.
Neymar spent the past four years with Barcelona, during which he won eight trophies and cemented his reputation as one of the globe’s best players.
And during that time he was linked with United, as well as their near neighbours Manchester City.
It’s PSG who’ve ultimately managed to prise Neymar away from the Nou Camp - forking out £198m (€222m).
Although their raid on Barcelona has been controversial and they are likely to be investigated by UEFA amid claims they’ve breached Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
La Liga threatened not to process PSG’s payment yesterday, which would have prevented Neymar going anywhere.
And Tebas has now revealed why the Ligue 1 giants were met with that hold-up - as well as why United would not have done.
He told Catalan radio station RAC 1: "If the player pays the clause, Barcelona cannot let him leave.
"What we want to understand is the origin of this €222m, if it is illegal.
"If Manchester United were to come, there would be no problems, we would have nothing to say because it is not a doped club.
"PSG is a state-run club and we have to end this situation as soon as possible."
