Neymar’s World Record Move Insanity

Provided by Sky Sports.com

After the seemingly countless reports had suggested for the past few weeks, PSG have now completed the world-record £197m signing of Neymar from Barcelona this summer. The transfer of the Barcelona star was frankly unfathomable at the end of last season but will almost definitely change the future of football transfers in world football.

PSG have paid over £100 million more than the (previous) world transfer record Manchester United set to purchase Paul Pogba from Juventus only last summer. In signing Neymar, PSG undoubtedly are gaining a player of world-class status but have parted ways for an insane amount of money to get him.

Barcelona had already confirmed on Wednesday 2^nd August, that the Brazilian-born forward had requested to leave the club and to be excused from team training duties.

The statement released from the club was "The player Neymar Jr, accompanied by his father and agent, has informed FC Barcelona this morning of his decision to leave the club in a meeting held at the club's offices," Barcelona said in a statement. The club refer to the buy-out clause of his existing contract which as of 1 July totals 222 million euros."

Provided by Trinity Mirror Shared Services Limited on msn sport

The reports that Neymar had completed a PSG medical in Porto only appeared hours later.

However, La Liga had tried to step in the way of this summer’s blockbuster transfer. Reports from Spanish sports newspaper AS, revealed that an attempt on Thursday morning by Neymar’s lawyers to pay the fee that will activate his release clause were rebuffed by bosses at the La Liga HQ. In truth, the intervention by the La Liga was only to delay the inevitable anyway.

There was always an overwhelming sense, all week long, that the move would definitely go ahead one way or another. The Hollywood-type transfer was in motion and it was unstoppable. La Liga had concerns as to how PSG would complete this deal and still be in line with UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations. La Liga president Javier Tebas had earlier said this week that the release clause wouldn’t be accepted. He even went as far as to warn PSG that La Liga would file a complaint to UEFA over what they feel is an obvious FFP breach.

For PSG to keep in line with the guidelines set by the FFP, “They must demonstrate that they do not have losses of more than 30 million euros a year, for three years,” as said by a UEFA spokesperson.

Provided by Goal.com

But as of later on in the night of 3^rd August, the club had released the news the football world had waited for. Neymar is a PSG player, and no longer of the red and blue colours of Catalonia’s world-renown Barca. This transfer without doubt is one like the world hasn’t seen before. Neymar had cost over double the previous world-record transfer fee for a player. But not only this, it’s perhaps the first time Barca had ever looked so helpless in recent memory. When Real Madrid signed Luis Figo from Barcelona back in 2000, it was without doubt a major loss for the team and this Neymar deal brings a similar impression.

There are very few players in the world today that could realistically claim they are amongst the best in the world. Over the past few years Neymar has proved his name belongs on that list. And particularly, that means that replacing Neymar is all the more difficult of a task. Since players as good as Neymar are so rare, and such players are almost certainly never put up for sale and are attached to world-class clubs who’s never want to let them go.

Barcelona have been heavily linked with moves for both Philipe Coutinho (of Liverpool) and Ousmane Dembele (of Dortmund). A move for the former looks more likely seeing as Barca have already seen 2 bids for Coutinho rebuffed by Liverpool who have no interest in selling. A similar stance has been taken by Dortmund over Dembele. But seeing as Barca have always held such a massive appeal for talented players the world over, it could be the case that those clubs fail in convincing their star players to stay.

But Barcelona are not the only team with problems right now. As it appears, because the transfer record has been absolutely blown out of the water by Neymar’s transfer, it is now very possible that moves over £100 million will be ‘realistic’. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho had said recently that the world-record fee Paris Saint-Germain have paid is "not expensive".

"Expensive is the fact there will now be more players at £100m, more players at £50m, more players at £60m - that's the problem.

"Neymar is one of the best players in the world, so commercially that is very strong but the problem is not Neymar - the problem is the consequences."

Provided by Daily Mail

And this is my point entirely. When the transfers that everyone thinks will never happen actually do become reality, you have to expect the unexpected. Long have the days gone, that we could scoff at players being linked with a transfer that will cost over £100 million. As proven by PSG, clubs are prepared to go up to north of €200 million to get a player they really want. As the transfer market is, players are going for ridiculous transfer fees that their performances in the past have never truly warranted. But through the inflated TV deals and clubs constantly wanting to make it hard to lose their best players (hence crazy price tags); this is what we have to live with.

I remember when the world’s very best talents would cost the world’s best teams up to £50 million or more to sign.  But now it looks like such prices will be reserved for slightly more mediocre players (in comparison) and that it will become the norm. Take Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City, for example. He is a very talented playmaker and is one of the best assisters in the Premier League. But Swansea have already rejected a £40 million bid from Everton for him this summer. They’re holding out for £50 million but don’t want to sell him at all. It’s a very eye-brow raising move seeing as a couple of years ago Sigurdsson would go for half the amount that Everton are bidding for him.

Provided by ITV.com

But if Neymar can leave one of the world’s best teams to join one of the world’s richest for 4 times that amount, then Sigurdsson’s price tag doesn’t seem so shocking.

It still seems crazily complicated but I don’t think that it’ll be too long till another player is packing his bags to move to a new club, new city, new stadium for more than £100 million.