By Yemi Babalola Lagos, Nigeria
The transfer windows in the last two seasons have been increasingly beyond imaginations. In the 2015 / 2016 campaign, the big deal was Belgian Kevin De Bruyne’s £54m move from Wolfsburg to Manchester City. Last season 2016/ 2017 was mainly the £93.2m Paul Pogba’s Juventus to Manchester United move, which even toppled the £75.3m Gonzalo Higuaín Napoli to Juventus move of the same season.
For the upcoming 2017/2018 season, Paris Saint-Germain football club (PSG) is looking to break the record signing of previous seasons as they look to scoop Brazilian forward Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, from Barcelona by paying his release clause of €222m.
Rumours about this impending transfer started emerging last month and refused to be swept under the carpet even when Barcelona chiefs refuted the claims times without number. What intrigued football fans was the fact that this could be a possible move and a transfer record breaker. There seems to be an iota of truth in this Neymar’s transfer saga as reports later emerged of Neymar’s father who is also the player’s agent was sighted in Paris, France and had discussions with PSG officials on a possible transfer move to the club.
Gerard Pique’s cryptic picture caption and further clarification added fuel to the speculation of a potential move and finally the episode on training where he had a spate with Barcelona teammate Samedo, Neymar stormed out of Barcelona training session last Thursday after an altercation with teammate Nelson Semedo. Though the issue was resolved between both players but the misunderstanding might most likely be that he (Neymar) is fed up and his intent to leave the club.
Earlier this week it was reported also by Spanish newspapers that Neymar told his Barcelona teammates he wants to leave the club and earlier today, reports also suggest that the Senior players demanded that Neymar tell the team as a group that he’s off to PSG and not in buckets.
As a team, Barcelona are clearly not happy with these developments as they kept on refuting and denying the speculations. However, as it stands, they have threatened to take action on the financial fair play investigation if PSG go ahead to pay the €222m to sign Neymar.
However, La Liga president Javier Tebas threatened a legal response against the former Ligue 1 champions if European football’s governing body failed to take action. He also said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is aware of the Spanish league’s intentions. As reports emerge this morning that PSG are in Spain to seal the deal. Likewise, Barcelona has confirmed that Neymar has made his intention to leave the Spanish team known to the club.
Irrespective of all this controversies Barcelona. No doubt, playing the second fiddle to the Argentinian Lionel Messi at Camp Nou has been a displeasure for the player and the arrival of Luis Suarez did not help his ego.
Neymar according to reports believes that he would become the main man if he moves to another team without the presence of big guns like Messi and Suarez. Another point been raised, is the fact that the 25-year old Brazilian hopes to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or (now FIFA Awards). With the dominance of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo winning the awards in the last 7 years, Neymar believes a move would aid his chance to win the award especially if he can win the UEFA Champions League with the Parisian side. Which has been the core focus of PSG in recent times, they have been gunning for the Champions League title.
Ultimately, money is another major motivation in Neymar’s desire to leave Barcelona. As unconfirmed reports, suggest he is to earn €30 million per year at Paris Saint-Germain after tax. Which means he would be earning even better than his Barcelona teammates.
Eventually, by the end of this week Neymar would either continue to be a shadow or become the main star of a European club-side. If it would be in Spain or France time will tell.
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