Another report about Neymar, another twist in his transfer saga as Real Madrid is claimed to have given up on their pursuit of the Brazilian superstar. The doors are therefore cleared off for Manchester United who were also looking to make an audacious move in the next transfer window.
How much of the speculation is entirely true? Paris Saint-Germain will demand an astronomical rate which will see them not only break-even but further earn a monumental profit to find an able replacement.
While 9 of the 10 top earners in the Ligue 1 are from PSG, Neymar trumps them all deeming him to be the second richest footballer in the world, behind his former teammate, Lionel Messi. The Brazilian is reported to bank €36.8m in a year and is currently tied to the French side until the summer of 2022.
His future is pretty much tied to PSG for a long time until and unless the owner, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, agrees to sell him. Previous reports stated that Madrid had already set aside £356m for the Brazilian while Manchester United were looking to put in an improved offer of £444m.
These are obscene numbers for any football club on this planet and none of our forefathers would have imagined that a single player could double the valuation of the entire establishment. Such has the lengths of obsession stretched to for the European giants who would like nothing better than to get one over the other.
Granted, Neymar is a generational talent but in his 8 years of professional football what has he really achieved? The entire reason as to why he left Barcelona was to escape the long shadow cast by the 5 time Balon D’Or Winning Messi.
Neymar was expected to succeed the Argentine as the best player in the world while competing alongside him in the same team. After failing to do so, he has managed to delve into the, dare I say, easier and less competitive French league and struggled to make a mark against his biggest admirers earlier in February.
The 26-year-old danced his way past the Madrid players without making a significant impact on the game. He often found himself hugging the pitch with agony rather than setting his teammates up or threatening Keylor Navas too much.
The defending European champions got the better of PSG with a 3-1 win at Santiago Bernabeu and the responsibility of making a comeback in the second leg is highly unlikely as Neymar is set to miss out the next 3-months of first-team action.
If the continental trophy does elude the Parisian side this season maybe we will witness another tectonic shift in the world of European club football – Neymar moving to Old Trafford and lighting up the Premier League.
