1975 FROZEN IN TIME
You’d have to go some to top the razzamatazz that surrounded Lionel Messi’s move from Barcelona to PSG.
Indeed, not even Pele’s move to New York Cosmos in 1975 came close.
Still regarded by many as the greatest player of all time, The Black Pearl joined the NASL club when he was 34, four years after winning the last of his 92 caps for Brazil.
His presence helped raise awareness of “soccer” in the States. He was soon joined by the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia and Carlos Alberto, who captained Pele and his outrageously-talented team-mates to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
While Messi will earn £25-milliona-year at the Parc des Princes, at Cosmos Pele earned $1.4m per annum, around £9m in today’s money.
He was signed as “a recording artist” by Warner Brothers to help offset tax.
And unlike PSG’S groundstaff, when Cosmos’ groundsman heard Pele’s debut was being broadcast live by CBS, he spray-painted the pitch green to disguise its lack of grass.