Neymar is close to sealing a move to Paris St Germain from Barcelona which would smash the world transfer record – though the deal did hit a snag on Thursday with La Liga rejecting PSG’s buyout clause offer for the Brazilian.
Nevertheless, if the transfer does indeed go through, it elevates the modern-day football money machine to new levels.
Here, Press Association Sport looks at how the £198.5million transfer fee, and Neymar’s reported £520,000-a-week wages, stack up in football terms.
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Neymar’s reported weekly wage could have settled League One side Northampton’s 2015 tax bill of £166,000 three times over, and still have £22,000 left over.
Neymar’s transfer fee could buy you – based on the reported initial fees paid in their most recent moves – four Mesut Ozils, two Paul Pogbas, three-and-a-half Kevin De Bruynes, 20 Olivier Girouds and almost 40 Dele Allis.
Neymar’s reported annual salary equates to around £26.8million at current exchange rates. England and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford was reportedly on wages of £20,000 a week last season, equivalent to £1.04million a year, although his contract is based on incremental increases and further bonuses for performance.
The Neymar transfer fee would have been enough to buy Sunderland – lock, stock and barrel – twice over with £18million in change, based on the amount reportedly paid by current owner Ellis Short in 2008.
A pie at Wigan cost £2.60 according to the BBC’s 2016 Price of Football survey, meaning Neymar could treat himself to 10 million of them every year and still scrape by on just over £845,000 as an annual salary.
With former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner completing his takeover of Portsmouth for a reported £5.67 million, you could buy the club 35 times for the same price as Neymar.
