I swear, 90% of soccer transfer news must be fake. But this ‘news’ about Neymar going to PSG seems to have some legs. Except that Neymar played a friendly for FC Barcelona yesterday and scored 2 amazing goals. Why would he risk injury before a huge move like that? And now Barca management says that he isn’t going anywhere. I only ask because I want to buy the fresh new Barcelona jersey and was considering the number 11.
Also, if he had suffered a serious injury in yesterday’s friendly, I assume that FC Barcelona would still have to pay him the remainder of his multi-year contract. I’m actually surprised that FC Barcelona let him play yesterday. They could have lost €350 million- the buyout money from PSG and 5 years of remaining salary to Neymar.
These quarter “half a billion” buyout clauses are mostly for show. Clubs will typically accept much lower transfer fee.
[del]DiveMar[/del] Neymar might end up in PSG for $150 million. Much more likely he is using them as a bargaining chip to get improved wages. PSG (and ManU) have been used in every summer transfer season by major players for this reason.
He obviously doesn’t think he’s guaranteed to go to PSG, or else he’d have sat out the game. I do note that he got stick from Suarez the other day for being late to practice after this news broke.
As I recall, there was a rumor that he was heading to PSG last summer (also to Man. U.). But managing the complexities of the financial end of these deals is not easy. So he may be boxed into staying with Barça for the season.
Right, but he’s gone back to the ‘threaten to go to Man U or PSG’ well too many times. His buddy Dani Alves is now in Paris, as well as several of his Brazil teammates. He loves to party with them, while Suarez and Messi are family men who don’t socialize much.
And why would Barca accept less money? They have him under contract for 4 more years, plus know that he will likely be the best player in the world for much of that time. I think he may already be.
No. Even at 33 CR7 is a better and more well rounded player. Neymar needs brilliant teammates and the the right system to be brilliant. How would he fare at Stoke City?
There’s three things to keep in mind, here. One is that since there’s no soccer going on, sport news outlets need to fill their space with anything, which means throwing away any semblance of journalistic integrity and embracing any rumor without checking. This means summers filled with absolute nonsense of transfer news.
Two is that footballer agents know this, and will use the press to get better deals for their clients.
Third is that a while back, UEFA decided to restrict how much money a Football Club is allowed to spend, the Finantial Fair Play rule, after a bunch of billionaires started buying football clubs and the best players regardless of how much money the Club was actually making. There’s plenty of ways of getting around it, of course, but it makes things difficult for those (mostly) oil rich clubs.
Now, can PSG afford spending their money in Neymar’s buyout clause? Not impossible, with some tinkering. But is not that certain they have even actually tried to. It’s more likely that Neymar’s agent, his father, just wants to make a new deal with Barcelona and lift Neymar’s wages to Messi’s level.
If Neymar does leave, however, it would mean a lot of money for Barcelona’s board to misspend in the kind of players who don’t fit in the system and have to be sent away for a pittance after a couple of seasons warming the bench, which seems to be what they love doing.
Well I’ve always thought CR7 is the best player of this generation, and not Messi (who most people seem to). But when did he or Messi not have world class talent around them? Amongst the 2 of them, they played for the 3 wealthiest and most popular clubs in the world. But Neymar looks to me like he is at the cusp of passing them over. Speed kills, and he can dribble loops around everyone else. He carried the team on his back at the end of the incredible comeback vs. PSG in the CL.
CR7 with Portugal. He dragged them to the Semi Finals in 2012 and the final in 2016. It was illustrative to see how differently he played for them. As a CF and playmaker. The goal against Croatia in the R16
Messi cries like a little bitch when he is asked to lead the line for the Argies or play as a SS. He will play as the RF damnit or the false 9.
This is all true, but I think you are a little unfair in referring to Messi’s character there. He probably knows that he is a more limited and less impactful player than Ronaldo. Unless he is in the correct structure that benefits his game then he shines far less. He is still a great, great player but no, he can’t lift and carry a team to the extent of, or as often as, Ronaldo. I suspect a large part of his success was the early years at Man U. which built into him the work rate, not something that you associate with Messi.
It occurs to me that I’ve been following soccer for many years now and I still don’t fully understand this transfer price stuff. Why didn’t Barca just make the fee like $2 billion? Did Neymar at one point agree to the €250 million? And why in the hell would Barca even let him play in the 2 friendlies? With a major injury, they would have lost all the transfer money and still have to pay him in full for 3 more years! Sounds like terrible risk management to me. I guess that it’s Champions League or bust for Neymar now. And the World Cup, of course.
The club and the player some time ago negotiated a new contract for a certain number of years. As part of the negotiations, a buy-out clause that is acceptable for club and player is included. I think neither Barcelona nor Neymar thought any club would be idiotic enough to cough up that sum, that’s why played these games.
The amount of money running around European soccer right now is insane. Between the escalating media rights and the infusion of cash from billionaires who consider teams a vanity project, the whole enterprise is getting seriously skewed.
It is all rather silly but then football always has been when it comes to inflated transfer fees.
In this case I very much doubt whether Neymar is making a rational choice as to where his best interests lie. He is at a great club alongside great players with a chance in the next 5 years to cement his reputation and win multiple trophies, rising to prominence as those 5 years older than him succumb to the ills of age. PSG is not a better club for him, it is a better financial decision for those that “own” him. i.e. his dad, his agent, plus other shady parties. It is in their best interests for Neymar to move for ridiculous money. Fast forward a couple of years and we’ll see the inevitable investigation into the financial irregularities involved in this deal.
He’s the third best forward on Barcelona. I can see wanting to be a more central part of a team. Apparently you can’t be truly great if you only play with other great players. Brazil is always going to have fantastic teammates so I guess he’ll have to go “slumming” with his club team.
He’s only going to become more central (at Barcelona) over the next few years. I don’t think his reputation is going to be enhanced by going to PSG any more than it will continue to grow at Barca.
If money is your ultimate aim…yes…If trophies and glory are what motivate you…perhaps not.
At the end of his career will he look with pride at his bank balance or his trophy cabinet?
He already need never worry about money ever again but as I’ve said before I don’t think that money necessarily motivates him but those behind him? that’s a different thing entirely.