When Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo made their controversial moves from Juventus
and Barcelona respectively for figures greater than 50 million euros, one thought that such deals
would never be a regular feature. Fast forward to the modern football world and a 50 million deal is
seen as a bargain. Paul Pogba’s 100 Million deal from Juventus to Manchester United brought the
former academy graduate home and with it the tag of the world’s most expensive footballer. The
Frenchman had a dual challenge of playing to the levels he had reached at Juventus and also against
this reputation.
PSG decided that they wanted to push the barriers of the footballing world and zeroed in on
Barcelona’s left inside forward Neymar. What started off as a rumour led to the Qatar backed club
offering a whopping 222 million euros to the Catalan club to trigger his release clause and bring the
former Santos man to Paris. The Brazilian spoke of the need for a new challenge at Paris while
others accused him of being greedy. However, the objective view of the deal was centred around
Neymar’s desire to be recognised for his performances on the pitch. A common example which was
shared across social media was the incident of how Messi received the plaudits despite Neymar’s
stupendous performance in the 6-1 win over PSG in the Champions League quarter finals last
season. It remains to be seen how the Brazilian can cope with being the main man at PSG and also
the most expensive footballer of all time.

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