Sports / Soccer
Neymar signs for Paris St-Germain
03 Aug 2017 at 21:07hrs | Views
Paris St-Germain have signed Brazil forward Neymar for a world record fee of 222m euros (£200m) from Barcelona.
The deal for the 25-year-old smashes the previous record set when Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United from Juventus for £89m in August 2016.
He will earn 45m euros (£40.7m) a year - 865,000 euros (£782,000) a week - before tax from the initial five-year deal, a total outlay of £400m.
Neymar said he has joined "one of the most ambitious clubs in Europe".
"Paris St-Germain's ambition attracted me to the club, along with the passion and the energy this brings," he added.
"I feel ready to take the challenge. From today, I will do everything I can to help my new team-mates."
A late snag?
After weeks of speculation, Neymar arrived for training with Barcelona on Wednesday with his father and representative, and told the Spanish club he wanted to leave.
He was then given permission by Barca manager Ernesto Valverde to leave to "sort out his future".
In Spain, a release clause can only be activated by a player buying himself out of his contract.
But when Neymar's lawyers attempted to make the deposit on Thursday, La Liga officials rejected the payment. Further statements followed from all sides as the negotiations continued.
La Liga believes PSG are violating Uefa's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and Barcelona previously said they would report PSG to European football's governing body Uefa for a FFP breach.
PSG believes La Liga was acting unlawfully, while the French league (LFP) said it was "surprised" and urged its Spanish counterpart to "abide by the Fifa rules".
So later on Thursday, Neymar's representatives paid the 222m euros (£200m) fee at Barca's offices instead.
Neymar in profile
Born in Mogi das Cruzes, a suburb of Sao Paulo, on 5 February 1992
Started his career at Santos after signing a professional contract in January 2009
Remains Santos' leading goalscorer in the post-Pele era with 138 goals in 229 matches
Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United were all linked before he eventually signed for Barcelona in June 2013 at the age of 21
He made his Barca debut against Levante in August 2013 and went on to score 105 goals and provide 80 assists in 186 games for the Catalan club
Made his international debut aged 18 and he has scored 52 goals in 77 games for Brazil
The deal for the 25-year-old smashes the previous record set when Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United from Juventus for £89m in August 2016.
He will earn 45m euros (£40.7m) a year - 865,000 euros (£782,000) a week - before tax from the initial five-year deal, a total outlay of £400m.
Neymar said he has joined "one of the most ambitious clubs in Europe".
"Paris St-Germain's ambition attracted me to the club, along with the passion and the energy this brings," he added.
"I feel ready to take the challenge. From today, I will do everything I can to help my new team-mates."
A late snag?
After weeks of speculation, Neymar arrived for training with Barcelona on Wednesday with his father and representative, and told the Spanish club he wanted to leave.
He was then given permission by Barca manager Ernesto Valverde to leave to "sort out his future".
In Spain, a release clause can only be activated by a player buying himself out of his contract.
But when Neymar's lawyers attempted to make the deposit on Thursday, La Liga officials rejected the payment. Further statements followed from all sides as the negotiations continued.
La Liga believes PSG are violating Uefa's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and Barcelona previously said they would report PSG to European football's governing body Uefa for a FFP breach.
PSG believes La Liga was acting unlawfully, while the French league (LFP) said it was "surprised" and urged its Spanish counterpart to "abide by the Fifa rules".
So later on Thursday, Neymar's representatives paid the 222m euros (£200m) fee at Barca's offices instead.
Neymar in profile
Born in Mogi das Cruzes, a suburb of Sao Paulo, on 5 February 1992
Started his career at Santos after signing a professional contract in January 2009
Remains Santos' leading goalscorer in the post-Pele era with 138 goals in 229 matches
Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United were all linked before he eventually signed for Barcelona in June 2013 at the age of 21
He made his Barca debut against Levante in August 2013 and went on to score 105 goals and provide 80 assists in 186 games for the Catalan club
Made his international debut aged 18 and he has scored 52 goals in 77 games for Brazil
Source - BBC
