Neymar is arguably the third best player in the world. There’s Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and then him. His exploits make him a cult figure for both Brazil and Barcelona. Every time he steps on the pitch, there is a chance something magical is about to occur. Yet each summer we keep having the same conversation. Where is Neymar headed next? Opinions have differed as to where over the past couple summers, but we may finally have an answer. Paris Saint-Germain is poised to trigger Neymar’s release clause with a €222m bid. Some say he has already agreed to terms on a five-year deal ahead of the move. But now that the where is evident, the why comes to the forefront. Is this a good move for Neymar and better yet, does it vault PSG to the top of the European football pyramid?
The first question has many possible answers. Is the move good for Neymar individually? I say yes. He has longed to remove himself from Messi’s shadow with the Blaugrana and a transfer to PSG does just that. While Edinson Cavani had a career revival last season, Neymar would come to PSG as THE man. The marketing campaigns alone would help the Ligue 1 outfit recoup much of the fee in the early stages of his deal. Paired with the gutting of Monaco, bringing in the 25-year-old all but guarantees them domestic domination for the next half decade.
Is the move good for Neymar professionally? Now that sounds like a similar question to the first but let me illustrate the slight difference. As a player, Neymar will have more creative opportunities with PSG. In Barcelona, he is a slave to the system that made the club the juggernaut they’ve been for the Messi era. You play your position and you play it well. In Paris, he will most likely get the freedom he receives with the Brazilian national team. That ability to roam free and come get the ball in more centralized positions is crucial to his evolution. But is Ligue 1 good enough competition to push him professionally? La Liga saw him have to deal with some of the world’s best both domestically, in cups, and also on European nights. Unless another team goes full Monaco over the next 5 years, that won’t happen in France.
The other part of the professional tab is his role with the aforementioned Brazilian national team. Neymar is the top dog with the Selecao. He should be the first name on the team sheet before every match. Yet, with the World Cup in 2018 looming, a move to France is potentially detrimental to him. Players want to be at their peak heading into Russia. While his statistics may pop off the page more in a PSG shirt, the lack of constant urgency and comfort with a vast contingent of fellow Brazilians could lead to complacency. That isn’t the game view a world class player wants to have to enter a World Cup.
Now, what does it do for the two teams on either side of the transfer? For Barcelona, €222m would give them a substantial war chest to not necessarily replace Neymar (that’s an impossible ask) but to at least reinforce enough while taking a chunk out of a considerable club debt. Barca would probably even take a much smaller sum if Marco Verratti was Camp Nou bound in return. Either way, they’ll be title challengers in Spain and one of the handful of clubs tapped to win the 2017-18 Champions League.
PSG’s fate, on the other hand, is much more dichotomous. With Neymar, PSG is in that Champions League conversation. He doesn’t exactly put them at the tippy top of the food chain, but he takes them from perennial dark horse candidate to legit contender. That is all that PSG’s Qatari investors have wanted since their 2011 arrival. Being on the periphery of relevance is not enough. Being a power broker in Europe means making big splashes and outside of landing Ronaldo or Messi, they come no bigger than Neymar. If the deal somehow falls through, PSG will just be that team that did this a year ago.
For the sake of the sport, I hope Neymar finalizes his deal with PSG. Having another club in that upper echelon can only help Europe’s premier club competition. Barcelona will suffer initially, but they’ll be just fine without him. I can’t say the same for PSG.