Neymar the new face of megadeals
What they said
“It was a huge pleasure having shared all those years with you, my friend @neymarjr. I wish you lots of luck in this new stage in your life. See you soon, tkm.” (Tkm stands for te quiero mucho, or ‘I love you loads’) — Lionel Messi wrote on Instagram, next to a montage of pictures of the two stars high-fiving, embracing and laughing. “Thanks brother. I will miss you man,” Neymar replied. “When we signed Paul Pogba, I said he was not expensive. Expensive are the ones that get to a certain level without a certain quality. I don’t think 260 million for Neymar is 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.” — Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho “I thought FFP was made so situations like that could not happen. But it seems it is more of a suggestion than a rule. I don’t understand how it happens. There are only two clubs who can pay transfer fees like that — Manchester City and PSG, and everyone knows it. I hope this deal is an exception not the next step for football. I don’t know.” — Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants to know why financial fair play rules haven’t stopped Neymar’s transfer. “La Liga will file this complaint because it’s a problem for La Liga’s competitiveness. Today it’s happened to Barca, tomorrow it could happen to Real Madrid, it’s happened to Atletico Madrid.” — La Liga chairman Javier Tebas “As soon as he clarifies the situation it’s better for us and him. He will have his say when he is ready and as a teammate I will support him. Our relationship won’t change. We want him to stay.” Neymar’s strike partner Luis Suarez, before the transfer agreement was announced.