THERE was little to set pulses racing at Old Trafford during the January transfer window – the return of Adnan Januzaj excepted – but some solace for Manchester United’s embattled executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, arrived at the end of last week.

Neymar’s father (and agent), revealed in court that United were willing to meet the buy-out clause in his son’s contract with Barcelona. Put a different way, Woodward was willing to spend £145 million on Neymar.

See? Those images of Galactico signings weren’t just dancing in his head. They were flesh and blood. It’s just that Neymar opted to spend another season under treble-winning Luis Enrique rather than Louis Van Gaal, playing alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez instead of Wayne Rooney and Memphis Depay.

Neymar Sr was testifying in a case that sees him, his son, his old club Santos and Barcelona in the dock, accused of defrauding the third party investment fund that held a share of his economic rights when he moved from Santos to La Liga. According to the prosecution, they deliberately reported a lower fee, so as to short-change the TPI fund to the tune of £20m.

Whatever may or may not have happened, Neymar Sr’s words had the curious effect of suiting everybody. Neymar’s de facto £145m minimum valuation put him at some 50 per cent more than Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo went for when they moved. The fact that he turned down the move, shows his loyalty to Barca.

It suits Woodward too. It suggests he did try to show the ambition that critics say has been missing. What can he do about it if Neymar prefers Barcelona to Manchester? And, in fact, this narrative would also explain why United had to scramble on the final day and pay through the nose for Antony Martial; until a few days before, they were hoping for Neymar.

Of course, you’re also left to wonder whether it actually happened. And, if it did, did Woodward ever have a shot or was he just being used?

We may never know. What we do know is that nobody decamped to Old Trafford in January, other than Januzaj, who couldn’t manage a single Bundesliga start for Borussia Dortmund and who Van Gaal himself showed the door last summer. When you lose your place in the squad to Jesse Lingard, it’s hard to get too excited.

What does it mean when the biggest club in England won’t spend money for a final push to a top-four finish? (Reportedly, they pursued a left-back and a right-sided winger, but found nobody to their liking.)

At the very least it suggests an unwillingness to invest money for a manager, Van Gaal, who likely won’t be around much longer, with talks reportedly having taken place with Jose Mourinho’s representatives. It’s also possible – and, admittedly, we’re in the realm of speculation here – that they were reluctant to let Woodward do the recruiting, given his track record. Maybe it’s not just Van Gaal whose job is under review, though, in Woodward’s case, given his commercial success, it’s probably a question of whether or not to leave him in charge of the transfer market or bring in a specialist.

United right now – as they make the trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea today – scream out “holding pattern”, both in terms of manager and personnel. At least it’s better than throwing good money after bad or piling on the mistakes.

TODAY will mark John Terry’s first game since he reminded the world that he may very well not be at Stamford Bridge next season. His announcement last week that Chelsea had not offered him an extension to his expiring contract and that if he has to leave, it won’t be for another English club, caught many by surprise.

Not because it’s a head-scratcher that Chelsea would not offer him a new contract – he turned 35 in December, he’s had a few bumpy patches this year, there’s a new boss coming in, no Champions League revenue next year and he earns a fortune. Rather, it was surprising that he’d be so public about it, to the point that Chelsea themselves were keen to point out the following day that “nothing had been decided”.

Then again, with Guus Hiddink just warming the managerial seat and the club no closer to identifying a successor, there’s an evident power vacuum right now at Chelsea. And maybe a bit of sabre-rattling from the long-time captain isn’t a bad thing, if it jolts the club into action. Particularly if the fans, as expected, give him a standing ovation today.

JUMP on the hype bandwagon and China is the new frontier of football. The January acquisitions of Jackson Martinez, Fredy Guarin, Ramires and Gervinho saw Chinese spending eclipse every league in the world, bar the Premier League, in 2015/16. The ingredients are all there. It’s the world’s biggest country, it has an economy second only to the United States which grows at near double-digit rates even in a downturn and, crucially, there’s enough central planning and government support to really push a top-tier league. Plus, average attendances at games reached 22,000 last year, a hair below Italy and France.

We can all do the maths and recognise that one day China may well fulfil its huge potential (and not just in football). It’s just that the day is likely still a long way off. The big money quartet cited above are all 28 or older and, of the four, only Gervinho could be considered a first-team regular.

Like Paulinho, Robinho, Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba before them, these are either guys at the end of the line, players who had long been transfer-listed or, in Martinez’s case, perhaps a sign that something else is at work. Six months ago, Atletico Madrid bought him from Porto, paying his full release fee of £27m. He played 90 minutes just once for Diego Simeone, scoring three goals in 22 appearances in all competitions. And yet, miraculously, he ended up costing Guangzhou some £32.3m.

How does that work? Might it have something to do with third-party investment? Or the fact that China’s Wanda Group owns a 20 percent stake of Atletico Madrid and has a close relationship with Martinez’s new club, Guangzhou Evergrande?

These are all questions that are just as relevant – if not more relevant – than merely marvelling at Chinese football’s newfound economic might and asking whether it has surpassed Major League Soccer and the Gulf as the preferred non-European footballing destination.