Perhaps the biggest transfer story since Cristiano Ronaldo joined Real Madrid from Manchester United nearly a decade ago, Neymar’s impending move to French giants PSG has brought the football world to a halt. Arguably the biggest player in fame and talent after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar’s move away from La Liga has brought forth several interesting talking points.
1. Barcelona’s status in Football
One thing that comes into question is Barcelona’s status as a football club. For many years, it was the Blaugrana and Real Madrid that represented the pinnacle of European football. Most of the greatest players in the world had played for either one of these two clubs. However, with Real Madrid’s recent and massive success with Zinedine Zidane, Barcelona has become the clear number two in Spain. Meanwhile, clubs from the Premier League and abroad have become wealthier and on par with the Spanish giants. While Madrid can fall back on its recent and longtime success, Barcelona has shown to be weaker. The managerial change and the growing age of Barcelona’s core meant that there was a strong need to keep Neymar. With his prime moving away from Spain, Barcelona may be left scrambling.
2. Transfer Market takes off
There has been a bit of a lull within the transfer market. With the purchases of James Rodriguez and Romelu Lukaku that seem ages ago, a Neymar transfer may cause an incredible amount of transfer activity. Barcelona will be cash rich and so will be looking to buy many more players to augment there relatively thin squad. Real Madrid may finally spend their money on Kylian Mbappe, as a show of force in the market as well as increasing their own options. The clubs that Barcelona buy from (of whom are rumored to be Dortmund – Dembele, Liverpool – Coutinho, and Juventus – Dybala) would also spend their money.
3. Future of Football
With Neymar’s transfer breaking the previous year’s record of Paul Pogba by more than double of the fee, there are worries whether there is an even widening gap in football between the cash – rich and the rest. Neymar’s transfer may add up to around 300 million euros, a fee that even puts last season’s market in perspective. In addition, FFP will be called into question, as clubs like PSG and Manchester City continue to spend heavily in the market.
Michael Skok
Football Editor for
Polish-American Portal www.Poland.us
More on: www.mikesgoal.com
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