It has now become clear that Neymar will be leaving FC Barcelona for PSG in a world record deal. Years ago when the talk of financial fair play was first touted by UEFA when Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter were still the big power brokers in world and european footie I was among a few who saw through the whole charade and stated clearly that FFP was a farce simply designed to protect the interests of the top tier royalty of club football. Many then shouted us down and said FFP was the new reality and was here to stay..nearly a decade since it is now obvious who was right.
Now don`t get me wrong, while I have always called FFP what it is..a joke and a farce that does not mean I have ever subscribed to squandermania and reckless spending. I have never suggested that not in the footie world and not in regular life. Clubs like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund and frankly the entire Bundesliga where financial probity is not just preached but practiced have always been to me to best examples of how responsible footie clubs can and should be run.
For those of the fan base who have been around long enough there are contemporary examples of what happens when clubs go on spending binges that are unsustainable and what happens when the bubble eventually bursts. We saw it with Rangers and Portsmouth in England..we saw it with Anzhi Michachkalah, Malaga and even Monaco. Footie clubs should be financially responsible because it is the right, proper and safe thing to do if they have any eye for the future and sustainability not because of being afraid of some fictitious boogie man called FFP.
You only need to look back into FFP history to see that the only teams that have incurred any sanctions beyond laughable wrist slaps have been small teams. The worst offenders have found incredibly creative ways to launder funds and create fictitious lines of “revenue generation” and even when caught with their fingers in the cookie jar get token wrist slaps and business continues as usual. Go back and look at the “sanctions” City and PSG faced when they were caught red handed cooking their books and using shell companies and double dipping as means to create shelters for revenue simply pumped into their clubs by their rich benefactors. Needless to say those sanctions were jokes and had no deterrent effect whatsoever. The point is Chelsea and Roman A have made a conscious decision to be financially responsible. To move our club from being the play thing of a rich billionaire to a decently run self sustaining sports enterprise. That is laudible but please lets stop with saying we need to do it or are doing it for the sake of FFP. That is absolute nonsense.
Now lets get back to Neymar. You can imagine when Barca sets Naymars release clause at 222 million euros they were quite confident that meant no one could ever get the player unless they wanted to sell. Their hypocrisy is really mind boggling. This is the same club that paid millions in loose cash under the table to third party owners, to Neymar`s dad and to Neymar himself while cheating Santos ( his former club) just to secure his signature. They paid substantively less on the table than Real offered and claimed it was because the player “chose” them till the full details of the unscrupulous deals came to light and they were caught and forced to pay hefty fines as a result. It is laughable then for a club with this history to have then thought that a little thing like a release clause no matter how big would keep a player that the big money players of club footie want from moving. It was hilarious to hear the Barca president in a desparate attempt to keep the player invoke FFP and claim that Barca would report PSG to UEFA for FFP breaches if they bought Neymar. As though that ever stopped these guys before. The PSG Qatar mafia know as everyone else really should by now that FFP is a farce and in typical fashion they came up with another creative way to make all that FFP paper work disappear.
You ask how can PSG who play in the low audience market Ligue -A?an essential one team league and who are by no means Footie royalty can afford to pay this kind of fee and still remain FFP compliant?
Well details of the financial voodoo that made it possible are now emerging. As it turns out PSG wont even be directly paying a cent or penny of the Release clause (Yes you heard that right). Apparently Qatar who essentially own PSG and are hosting the 2022 world cup have cooked up some deal to make Neymar the face for their 2022 world cup Ad drive. That deal and the image rights for Neymar from it will thus net Neymar a cool 222 million euros and some change and the player himself will then pay of his release clause from Barca so that PSG are then free to pay him whatever ungodly amount he demands and fancies as his wages including such perks like having a fueled and always ready personal jet to fly him to Brazil whenever he please. This way PSG get the word class player and really don`t take that noticeable a hit on the FFP books as they can amortize his wages over the length of his contract. Apparently perfectly legal though anyone with half a shred of simple morality knows just how dishonest this all is.
Am I envious of a club like PSG..absolutely not..this is the way the world works and this should be the final death knell to anyone harboring any delusional thoughts that FFP means anything. I actually derive some perverse pleasure from seeing Barca getting a black eye and seeing them outplayed in a game that they have been part and parcel of for decades while trying to project this faux image of footie piety.
The Neymar move will also make this transfer window ( what is left of it) very very interesting. Barca will be hawking their new found extra cash like drunken sailors looking to get some replacement ( or semblance of it) for Neymar and you can be sure the money they will offering for players like Dybala, Coutinhio, Angel Di-Maria etc will be mind boggling because they will desperate and the clubs they approach will know it. Whoever they get they will pay through the nose literally. Do I think this will in anyway impact Chelsea`s transfer market fortunes..no..simply put we don`t have the financial muscle nor resources ( especially with an upcoming capital project in stadium expansion just round the corner) to play in the same pond these guys play. That is the reality and the truth. We can watch but I would be shocked if our board dare step into those shark infested waters. We just need to keep looking in the same next level market of available talent we operate in.
Baring something really strange happening the road is paved for Real to get Mbappe and for them to win La Liga this year. With a new manager with no record of any real high level success and with MSN down to MS and the “m” now well over 30 and starting to show the effects of age I don`t see Barca beating Real this year. Also PSG will certainly win Ligue A and everything else in France ( Coup de la ligue and Coup de france) since Monaco is now decimated having sold virtually half their title winning side and not having any where close to PSGs money power. The ligue A will revert to its regular one team league status but what will be interesting is to see how far they go in the champions league. I am willing to bet a substantive amount that even with Neymar they wont win it and may actually do worse than last year. All the traditional royalty top tier teams now will be gunning for PSG and for Barca it will be personal and these teams have huge influence in the corridors of power at UEFA. Beyond the fact that I don`t feel PSG even with Neymar have the quality nor depth to get past the best 4-6 other continental European teams the other issue is how UEFA will tinker with their draws and how officiating decisions will go against them. PSG has thumbed their nose against the establishment of European footie and they will be made to pay..eventually.
Final word; The Neymar trade will open the flood gates. This is only be the beginning of absolutely crazy footie deals. If not in this window you just wait to see what City will try and pull next window ( especially if they don`t win the BPL) . Then the traditional powers ManU and Real and maybe even Barca will get in on the show in a theater of one-upmanship. It will make for interesting theater. Enjoy folks..it is silly season!!!
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