Neymar's former agent has described the "unreal" moment when the "unforgettable cheque" of €220 million came through for his Paris Saint-Germain move.
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Neymar joined PSG for €220mAgent reflects on "unreal" moveTalks about huge bump in salaryFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Neymar swapped Barcelona for PSG in 2017 for a world-record fee and now his former agent, Wagner Ribeiro, has explained the magnitude of the deal and the Brazilian's salary increasing by €15m.
AdvertisementGettyWHAT NEYMAR'S EX-AGENT SAID
He told Complément d’enquête, via Foot Mercato: “It was an unforgettable cheque. We even took a photo of it – €220m! There won’t be any other transfers of this magnitude. It came from the Qatari bank and was written in Arabic. I didn’t understand all of it but I will never forget the figure. It was almost unreal. Neymar went from a salary of €25m at Barça to €40m at PSG. [PSG president] Nasser [Al-Khelaifi] spent without counting because he absolutely wanted the title (Champions League). With them, there are no limits: when they want something, they get it.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Unfortunately, Neymar, arguably, did not live up to that huge transfer fee – despite winning a hatful of trophies for PSG. Towards the end of his spell there, the ex-Barca star was booed by supporters and criticised publicly. But he remains the most expensive football transfer move of all time.
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT?
Fast forward to the present and Neymar, now 33, is back with boyhood club Santos. He's been back on the sidelines through injury recently and will hope to return on April 7 when Santos face Bahia.