£89.3 Million, the number that had people shocked for the good part of a season, the amount Manchester United paid to bring Paul Pogba from Juventus. Pogba's move started a lot of debates circling around the issue as to what was the point of Financial Fair Play if teams could just go out and spend as much money as they wanted. A year later, Paris Saint-Germain F.C. have not only broken the record created by Paul Pogba's transfer fees but more than doubled it by paying £198m for the signing of Neymar. This astonishing move will go down in the history of sports, not just football, a Brazilian superstar moving from the glorious Catalan city of Barcelona to the magical city of Paris.
Paris Saint-Germain F.C
Psg have landed their number one target, the biggest transfer rumour of the summer has reached a definitive conclusion, but what next for the Parisian club? Neymar will be a beacon and an exceptional identifier for PSG for the rest of the season but the glamour around the Brazilian's move is so large that you almost forget that PSG is a team made up of superstars. Edinson Cavani, Julian Draxler, Marco Verratti, Angel Di Maria are just some of the few superstars in their ranks. Coming on the back of a season where PSG suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Neymar's previous employers and lost out the league title to Monaco, they have a lot to make up for, and if summer transfer windows are any indicators of showing intent, PSG have shown that not only are they ready to challenge for the top prizes in European football but they are going to be the ones to set the standards.
FC Barcelona
Neymar's departure leaves Barcelona with a lot of problems that the world record transfer fee might not be able to solve. With a few weeks left before the start of regular seasons, they need to find a replacement for Neymar and most top teams are protecting their star players. Even though Barcelona have the star power and worldwide pull to draw any footballer to their club, the other clubs are now aware that FC Barcelona have just received £198 Million and as such, any transfer dealings would be at a very high transfer fee irrespective of previous valuations.
Rumours indicate the club have identified three players as Neymar's replacement in Philippe Coutinho of Liverpool FC, Antoine Griezmann of Atletico Madrid and Paulo Dybala of Juventus. All three players are settled in at their clubs and the clubs have no intention to let them go - meaning FC Barcelona might have to shell out a lot of the Neymar fees they receive to have any chance of landing a player capable enough to fill in the boots of the Brazilian for the upcoming season and beyond.
