One year on from the transfer than changed football forever

Sums that previously seemed absurd were no longer ridiculous – and vast amounts were suddenly common place.

From that day transfer records have been broken on almost a daily basis.

The transfer market itself is still paying the consequences of the event, with price inflation rising to the highest it has ever been.

A year later, it is not clear who won, if anyone did, as all parties are yet to achieve what they proposed they would at the time.

For Neymar, who wanted to flee from the shadow of Lionel Messi, it has been a mixed bag.

His stated aim was to become the world’s best player – but he has clearly fallen well short of that both at club and international level, where his World Cup will be more remembered for over-wrought theatrics than footballing skill.

For PSG, yes they did achieve the (far easier) target of winning Ligue 1 but their Champions League dreams fell well short – again.

And for Barcelona, they were thought to be the most affected yet they still managed to overcome their arch rival and win LaLiga last season.

But their Champions League ambitions also fell short – crushed in a 3-0 second leg loss to Roma in the quarter finals.

Replacing Neymar however has been a more difficult task.

The Brazilian was said to be the next heir to the Camp Nou once Messi had finished his journey and to this day, nobody has stepped up to fill that position.

In the past 12 months, Barca have spent 400m euros on signings and none of the replacements seem to be at the leadership level required by the club.

Ousmane Dembele was a fiasco in his first year, marked by constant injuries, and Philippe Coutinho, with all the skill that he possess, is not Neymar.

Once Neymar left, the fearsome attacking line-up of Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, known as the MSN, disappeared.

Barcelona, and Neymar, have never been the same since.