GOLDEN BOY CASHES IN
Brazil’s super-forward Neymar is off to PSG, sending his earnings into the stratosphere
IT was all anyone in the sports-watching world could talk about as news of the costliest transfer in soccer history broke. The deal was on, then it was off, then it was on – and the kind of money the Brazilian-born superstar will earn is enough to make cash- strapped South Africans weep. The breakdown goes something like this: Neymar will earn £49 million (R857 million) a year, which works out to £942 308 (R164 000) a week, £5,594 (R98 000) an hour, £93,23 (R1 633) a minute and £1,55 (R26,86) a second.
Or, as British newspaper The Mirror put things, “It would take Neymar just over four hours to earn as much as the average UK nurse does in a whole year. And after just 25,5 hours – just over a day – he will have matched British prime minister Theresa May’s salary.” And he’s just 25 years old. Clearly French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) believes he’s worth it – and he certainly is special. In his four years at Spanish super-club Barcelona he scored 105 times in 189 games and won seven major trophies, including the Champions League once and La Liga twice.
Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez were the team’s triangle of glory.
But Neymar stunned Barça fans by announcing he wanted out, less than 12 months into his second cushy five-year contract. And so it’s off to Barça’s rivals PSG for a fee of £200 million (R3,5 billion) – the most ever paid for a soccer player.
Officially he wants a new challenge. “I’ve won all that a player can win,” Neymar said on Instagram, adding his father and agent Neymar Snr – a former player – advised him against the move. “I’ve conquered everything an athlete can conquer. I’ve lived unforgettable moments. But a player needs challenges.”
It was PSG’s ambition, energy and passion that attracted him, he said.
“Since I arrived in Europe, the club has always been one of the most competitive and most ambitious. And the biggest challenge, what most motivated me to join my new teammates, is to help the club to conquer the titles that their fans want.”
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
The record-breaking deal’s total worth is closer to £450 million (R7,8 billion) in fees and wages – £198 million (R3,4 billion) of which had to be paid to Barça to release Neymar from his contract.
Neymar himself will receive £49 million (R857 million) a year in a five-year deal. At the moment, he’s worth some $37 million (R647 million) and is the 18th highest-paid athlete in the world.
According to Forbes, he’s the only soccer player to earn more off than on the pitch, thanks to sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike, Gillette, Panasonic and Beats by Dre. But this new deal will send his net worth through the roof.
The young forward, who has a fiveyear-old son, Davi Lucca with ex-girlfriend Carolina Dantas, transferred to Barcelona for £48,6 million in 2013.
But his move to the French side has smashed the previous record set when French midfielder Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United from Juventus for £89 million this time last year.
Neymar may be laughing all the way to the bank but his eye-watering transfer sum has not come without criticism. Long-time Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger called the deal “beyond calculation and beyond rationality”.
But PSG has the bucks. Qatar Sports Investments became the club’s majority shareholder in 2011 and has made headlines for the fees they’ve forked out to tempt the world’s best players.
“For me, it’s the consequence of the ownership and that’s completely changed the whole landscape of football in the last 15 years,” Wenger said. “Once a country owns a club, everything’s possible.”
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has also criticised the deal, saying he hoped exorbitant transfers would be the exception. “I always thought Financial Fair Play was invented so that things like this don’t happen,” Klopp said, referencing the financial performance regulations introduced by UEFA in 2011 to stop clubs spending more than they earn.
“But obviously Financial Fair Play is more of a suggestion rather than an actual rule. I don’t understand it.”
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Yet money may not be the only reason for Neymar’s decision to jump the Barcelona ship. Many believe Neymar had had enough of Camp Nou in March – and there’s a viral photo to back this up.
True to form, Neymar had a stellar performance in Barça’s comeback game against PSG, scoring and assisting in an incredible three goals in seven minutes and seven seconds. “This was the best game I’ve played,” Neymar later said.
Yet after the win, Messi leapt onto the advertising boards as rabid fans surged at his feet. A match photographer managed to capture that moment of absolutely ecstasy – and within 48 hours, that shot of Messi become the most-viewed picture in the club’s history. Once again, Messi was the man of the moment, the enduring image of a magical night despite Neymar having been the man to clinch the match.
“With Barça it almost always is [Messi] and maybe there is something in that?” writes the Guardian’s sports blogger Sid Lowe. “Shadow is a word used a lot of late and the one Messi casts is long.
“That, at least, is the theory: Neymar wants to step centre-stage and lead. He can now play where he wants and how he wants, not have to adapt to others.
“At the Parc des Princes [ Paris Saint-Germain’s home ground], success would be his own, PSG would be his team, players brought to his specifications and he’ll be surrounded by his people, friends and countrymen.”
HE’LL BE MISSED
Messi’s response backs this up. The Argentinian star took to Instagram to bid farewell to his former brother-in-arms. “It was a great pleasure to have shared all these years with you my friend Neymar. I wish you good luck in this new stage of your life.” Neymar replied: “Thank you brother. I will miss you.” Not to be outdone, Neymar posted his own photo, in which he declared to 30-year-old champion “the best athlete I’ve ever seen in my life”. “Lionel Messi became my teammate, and my friend on and off the pitch,” he wrote. “I’m proud to have played with you. We formed an attack with Luis Suarez that will endure forever. “I achieved everything a sportsperson can achieve. I played with these guys in video games. I lived unforgettable moments in a city that’s more than a city – it’s a homeland.”