How Neymar’s Transfer to PSG Revolutionized The Football Business

In August, 2017, Neymar left Barcelona for PSG in what was to become the moment to change footballing business as we know it. The agreed-upon fee between the two clubs was € 222 million, shattering all previous records for fees paid for players looking for new challenges. 

Transfer windows since then have never been the same. Not long ago, €40 million was considered to be a huge (but fair) fee for a player of high esteem, but those days are long gone. While Neymar was not the first in a series of industry changing transfers, none of the transfers fees that came before his were of the magnitude of €222 million. 

The first transfer that began shattering previously held notions of how much players could be worth came with Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid, which resulted in Los Blancos coughing up a staggering € 94 million for the Portuguese superstar. What’s notable about this is that the only other player listed in the world’s 50 most expensive footballers from 2009 was Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahomivic, whose move to Barcelona was agreed upon for a sum of € 69.5 million (nearly 25 million less than Ronaldo’s fee).

Ronaldo’s fee was the beginning of a rapid change to transfer business as we knew it. In the period between 2009 and 2017, we began seeing high profile players depart to other clubs for increasingly large fees. Among these players included Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Higuain and Edison Cavani just to name a few. Each of these players signed deals with clubs that had paid € 60 million or more for them.

This era could have been described as the precursor for the real big spending. In 2009, Ronaldo was deemed to be the best in the world, and all the names mentioned in the paragraph that came before could be considered to be world class. In 2016, the big spending yardstick was shifted again, as Paul Pogba’s move to Manchester United had a hefty €105 million price tag attached to it. 

But none of these measured up to the fee attached to Neymar. €105 million is a lot of money, no doubt, but €222 million is more than double, and it is this signing that changed the business of transfers in football forever. Almost 70 percent of the list of players in the top 50 most expensive transfers of all time occurred after Neymar’s megadeal. 

Before Neymar’s transfer, the price tag of €100 million was assumed to be unthinkable, however these days, it seems as no one bats an eyelid as players are bought and sold for that much. Within the space of three years, more than ten players have now been bought for north of €100 million. That’s more than three players per year, which quite frankly is a frightening statistic. 

An interesting secondary effect to this has been the way bookmakers from around the world have reacted to these new big spending, especially when it comes to outright bets. 

For example, when Neymar moved to PSG in 2017, their odds for winning the league, and the Champions League were instantly adjusted by soccer betting sites as far as South Africa for example, as they were made increasingly short. 

There is no doubt that Neymar has had an instrumental impact on the world of football, but very few could ever conceptualise that one player could come to change the dealings of the football business in one foul swoop. It is a testament to the type of player Neymar is, a true influencer of the sport.

Sources: bleacherreport.com / givemesport.com