The world’s most expensive soccer player, Brazilian superstar Neymar, yesterday landed in Paris following his world-record transfer from Spanish giants Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.
Neymar had flown in from Barcelona a day after completing a 222 million euro (US$263.8 million) move from the Spanish club and is to earn a reported 30 million euros annually in a five-year deal.
“I am extremely happy to join Paris Saint-Germain,” Neymar said late on Thursday. “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.”
“Paris Saint-Germain’s ambition attracted me to the club, along with the passion and the energy this brings. I played four seasons in Europe and I feel ready to take the challenge,” Neymar said. “From today, I will do everything I can to help my new teammates, to open up new horizons for my club and to bring happiness to its millions of supporters around the world.”
PSG said that Neymar would appear at a news conference at the Parc des Princes at 12:30pm yesterday.
He is to be presented to fans at the same ground at 2:45pm today before the season-opening Ligue 1 fixture against promoted Amiens SC.
PSG wasted no time in pressing Neymar’s commercial value by announcing that shirts bearing his name would be on sale from 10am yesterday at the club’s megastore on the city’s iconic Champs Elysees.
Soccer legend Pele congratulated Neymar on his move, telling his successor in the famed Brazilian No. 10 shirt: “Good luck for your new challenge.”
“Paris is a beautiful city, one of my favorite in the world,” three-time FIFA World Cup winner Pele said on Twitter.
The transfer is more than double the previous world record set by Manchester United’s capture of Paul Pogba from Juventus last year for 105 million euros, leaving many commentators aghast at the rampant inflation in soccer transfer fees.
Leading coaches such as Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger lamented that the move could cause even greater inflation in transfer fees and player wages.
“It also looks like the inflation is accelerating,” said Wenger, whose 21 years at Arsenal have been characterized by prudent spending. “It’s beyond calculation and beyond rationality.”
However, in the French capital there was huge excitement at PSG having landed a star to finally make them feared among European soccer’s elite, with even French President Emmanuel Macron enthused.
“It adds attractiveness. Yes, it’s good news,” Macron said.
The mood is understandably more somber in Barcelona, where attention has turned to who the Catalans can sign to replace Neymar in the month before the transfer window closes.
Neymar’s Brazilian international teammate Philippe Coutinho of Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele have both been linked.
Spain’s La Liga initially refused to accept payment for Neymar’s buyout clause in a bid to stall the move over allegations of transfer irregularities.
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