Its now official.

[Billyni]

Neymar. The world of football has lost the plot completly and is up &hit creek.

[WTF11]

From the Independent.ie site

“On a dramatic day, Barcelona announced on Wednesday that Neymar, 25, had told them of his intention to leave and that in response had said he could only do so on payment of the £198 million (€222m) buy-out clause included in the new contract he signed last year.
It is anticipated that the Qatari-owned PSG will pay it in full although the structure of the deal, expected to be €450m in total, will have to pass Uefa’s financial fair play (FFP) rules.

Neymar is expected to earn around €55m a year before tax meaning that the total deal, spread over the course of a five-year contract, could cost €90m annually - almost a quarter of PSG’s current annual revenue of €389.6m.”
“His (Neymars), buy-out clause was intended as insurance that he would not leave Barcelona after overtures from PSG before he signed his last deal, although the Spanish club never anticipated that anyone would meet it.

The turning of the tables on Barca, ranked second in the world for turnover last season in the Deloitte Money League, has been met with anger in Spain where the president of La Liga, Javier Tebas, accused PSG of state-backed “financial doping”.
He said to Spanish newspaper AS that there would be a formal La Liga complaint to Uefa and the European Union about “the teams that receive economic investment from countries that gift players to their fans at the cost of taking them from other clubs.”

The deal marks a change in the financial dominance of Spain’s two leading clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona, who, previous to PSG’s proposed Neymar deal, have signed the biggest names in world football from all over the world.”

Doesn’t your heart just bleed for the poor dears at Madrid and Barcelona?

[CLIVETHELEEDSFAN]

It's time they capped EVERYTHING money wise in football, it should never have been allowed to get the way it is, surely folk must have realised when a player cost a million pounds to buy and his wages were 2k a week/104k a year, that things were getting way outa hand. Imagine if that was the cap now, players would stop playing football coz they'd feel they ain't earning enough, awww bless they feckin cotton socks! 😡

[spaldy]

capping wages ensures mediocrity. Look at "spec" racing series such as Indy car vs formula one.

If you really want to tighten it up then demand accounting from where the owners money comes from. Eliminate owners that are tied in with criminal backgrounds, have ties to countries that treat women and "non beleivers" like sub humans, stole money from a countries citizens through corruption and graft and you elmiminate most of the "stupid money". Most honest businessmen/women aren't going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on something that loses money.

If you want to watch how this likely will play out watch what happens over here in the US with the NBA and American Football. Ratings are declining, TV revenue is likley to decline, ticket prices are too high and the milenials aren't as interested in sports overall. My guess is that English football won't be immune from some of the same trend. In the end if the next generation can't afford to go to games over time the interest will fade and the days of 100 million dollar contracts will be over.

[WTF11]

You may be right Spaldy, but most of us who post here don't have 20 - 30 years to wait until common sense re-asserts itself.

The tightening up you mention would help, but how can you expect that to happen when those charged with doing the tightening are the likes of FIFA, UEFA, and the various national FAs? All have their snouts well and truly wedged in whatever trough is available, and all will fight tooth and nail (however "behind closed doors" and quietly) to retain that status and income, thereby ensuring that the likes of Qatar can continue to bribe their way into world football, the Chinese can hoover up the worlds best players with obscene salaries (Neymar excepted), the Russians can continue to seek to bully their way through any regulation developed to improve the behaviour of their fans and/or ensure that doping becomes a thing of the past.

Yes, council of despair, but realistic nonetheless.

You're right about implosion, ,just going to be too long coming for most of us.

[alfinyalcabo]

Leeds are Schite..

[CalverleyBoy]

Leeds are Schite..

Oh you have been missed so much - hows summer in Burnley

[Ozwhites]

Leeds are Schite..

Did somebody just indulge in flatulence?...😀

[alfinyalcabo]

Oh you have been missed so much - hows summer in Burnley

alreet CB.. I'm in sunny Kent,good luck for the new season mate ..

[alfinyalcabo]

Did somebody just indulge in flatulence?...

Hey up Oz,how's things down under?

[Ozwhites]

Not bad pal. Only 3 weeks till Spring now. My favourite time of the year. :) How's your boys looking you reckon?

[alfinyalcabo]

Not bad pal. Only 3 weeks till Spring now. My favourite time of the year. :) How's your boys looking you reckon?

No doubt it's another season trying to finish out of the bottom three .. :(