PSG, Neymar looking to get over the hump

Paris Saint-Germain introduced Neymar, its very expensive new soccer acquisition, on Friday in Paris. There was much rejoicing.

The 25-year-old Brazilian sensation, acquired after PSG paid Barcelona a record-breaking US$263-million transfer fee, said he wasn’t motivated by any desire for riches, which he already had as one of the top players in the world.

“I was never motivated by money,” he told the gathered reporters. “What I think about is happiness. If I was following the money I would maybe be in some other country.”

Instead, it was all about making PSG an elite European soccer team.

“I want to write history here. This is the only reason,” Neymar said. “There are new challenges and I want to help write the history of the club. Our biggest challenge is the Champions League, but there are other trophies, too.”

PSG recently has been entrenched atop France’s Ligue 1, earning top honours in four straight seasons from 2012 to 2016 before getting bumped down to second place by Monaco last season.

It also is the three-time defending Coupe de France winner.

But the real glory in European soccer — competitive, financial, all of it — lies in the Champions League, and PSG has not shown the ability to get over the hump: It qualified for the past five versions of European club soccer’s premier tournament but hasn’t advanced past the quarter-finals.

Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi estimates PSG added US$500 million to the value of the franchise simply by signing Neymar, and he expects that number to double from the US$1.5 billion where it stands.

The team is on a good pace already: The Associated Press talked with a PSG fan who purchased four Neymar jerseys, at a cost of $740.