£196M NEYMAR
PSG set to smash world record for Barcelona striker
PARIS SAInt-GeRmAIn are growing confident of landing Barcelona’s Brazilian superstar neymar in a world-record £196million transfer deal. the French club are willing to trigger a release clause of ¤222m (£196m) in the forward’s contract, pay a signing-on fee of £45m and offer a five-year deal worth £596,000 a week after tax. Barcelona are adamant that neymar (left) is staying but sources say the 25-year-old wants to pursue a move to Paris.
though the financial side of the deal is obviously tempting, money would not be the sole motivation for the player.
Sources close to the deal say neymar was struck by the vision for PSG’s future — and his perceived role in it — presented to him during initial talks.
PSG believe they have the infrastructure to become the dominant force in european football and provide neymar with the platform to overtake Barca’s Lionel messi and Real madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and become the world’s best player. the fact PSG have a strong Brazilian contingent — thiago Silva, Dani Alves, marquinhos and Lucas moura — is also understood to have influenced neymar. Further discussions between the
IT will be the most stunning transfer since Real Madrid snatched Luis Figo in 2000, and once again Barcelona will be the victims.
Neymar, poised to step out of the shadow of Lionel Messi and into the spotlight at the Parc des Princes, was the player the Catalans boasted about beating the rest of Europe to in 2013.
But they are on the brink of losing him after only four years, for a fee that will smash the existing transfer record.
‘I don’t think that will happen,’ said Barcelona’s technical secretary Robert Fernandez on Monday when asked if a club would meet Neymar’s ¤222million (£196m) buy-out clause.
If that was throwing down the gauntlet to PSG chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi, he seems convinced that accepting the challenge is what it will take to make the French side Champions League winners.
It was Neymar who stopped PSG progressing in last season’s Champions League. He starred in that extraordinary 6-5 aggregate win with a brilliant free-kick, a penalty and the assist for the 95th-minute winner — all in seven sensational minutes.
It seemed to be the night he moved ahead of Messi as Barcelona’s most important player. But Neymar was sent off for a daft double caution in a 2-0 loss to Malaga a few weeks later and when he sarcastically clapped the fourth official as he walked off the pitch he incurred a further game’s suspension and missed the Clasico two weeks later.
Barcelona beat Real Madrid without him thanks to a 92nd-minute winner from Messi — yet another reminder of just who was No 1 at the Nou Camp and how difficult it would be for Neymar to overtake him.
As Barcelona’s season faded, Neymar began to feel the finger of blame was being pointed his way. He went partying with Lewis Hamilton the night of the 6-1 win over PSG. He had permission but four days later he missed Barcelona’s loss to Deportivo through injury. That game coincided with his sister Rafaella’s birthday — the third year running he had missed the game being played closest to that date.
As well as the bond with Hamilton, he became friends with Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. There were frequent trips to London on days off. And at the end of the season, it is said Barcelona’s thenassistant coach Carles Unzue warned Neymar during a trainingground row not to end up like another Barca Brazilian, Ronaldinho, whose dizzying social life ultimately cut short his career.
Unzue is gone but the feeling remains that Neymar is looked upon as the playboy footballer and not the leader of the team. He looks more than happy in the company of Messi and Luis Suarez on the training pitch but there will be no shortage of Brazilian friends waiting for him in Paris. PSG threw themselves wholeheartedly into a late bid to prise Dani Alves away from Manchester City precisely because they knew it would be something else in their favour as they attempted to lure Neymar.
Cynics in Barcelona will dismiss the talk of Neymar moving purely for football reasons. How can playing every week in the French League in front of 48,000 top playing the Clasico in front of 99,000? Will leaving Messi and Suarez’s side really improve his chances of winning the Ballon d’Or? What if PSG’s woes under Unai Emery are repeated this season and the French Cup is all they win again?
Neymar has cried wolf before and last year’s rumblings ended with him signing for Barcelona until 2021. This week’s stories seemed to follow a similar pattern but news that Neymar’s father was on his way to Paris for talks this morning seemed to carry far more weight, and voices from other Premier League clubs who have kept a careful eye on the situation over the last 12 months also suggest the 25-year- old really is about to leave this time.
When Barcelona lost Figo in 2000 they wasted the money on the disastrous signings of Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit, among others. They will have to get their rebuilding right this time. PSG’s Marco Verratti will remain an option and Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele or Monaco’s Kylian Mbappe will head up the targets as the Brazilian’s direct replacement.
‘No one is more abracadabra than Neymar,’ former Barca coach Luis Enrique once said. Barcelona will argue that Messi still has more magic in his 30-yearold legs than the younger pretender.
Which is precisely why Neymar is now on the verge of leaving for the City of Light.