If you are not living under the rock, well you should know that the landmark deal for Brazilian star Neymar has been completed.
The football community and the social media have been awash with pictures of the player in the jersey of his new employers.
Paris St-Germain broke the £100 million barrier to get the former Barcelona forward. The deal doubled the previous world record held by Paul Pogba who moved from Juventus to Manchester United last summer. Pogba moved for £89 million plus other fees totaling £100 million. However, Neymar’s deal cost the state-backed Ligue 1 giants a whopping new record fee of £198 million. With the inflation in the transfer market, the £1 billion mark should not be too far off before it is broken.
Newcastle United paid record £15 million to Blackburn Rovers for Alan Shearer in 1996; Inter Milan added almost £5 million more for Ronaldo de Lima the following year before Real Betis broke the £20 million barrier for Denilson. Records were also broken for ChristianVieri, HernanCrespo, Luis Figo, and Zinedine Zidane.
Zidane went the closest to the £50 million mark when Spanish side Real Madrid lured him from Juventus. For eight years, that record stood until Madrid broke it for Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo. It cost £80 million to Manchester United for the player to move to Santiago Bernabeu. In 2013, same Real broke that record to land Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspurs for £85 million.
Now Neymar’s deal doubled the previous record – unlike how the price steadily increased through the years. Is he worth the stupendous price tag? Yes, he is very marketable – infact how many other players are more marketable? He is a skillful Brazilian star, a Champions League winner, an Olympic Gold medalist, a member of an elite attack team at Barcelona and a fan’favourite – but £200 million?
