Due to a shortage of actual, interesting transfers, Sky Sports News are treating the transfer of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG as though it was important to anybody not from one of the three locations directly affected. It isn’t, but we will now devote almost an entire article to that very subject.
Yes, there is a knock-on effect with the fee that PSG are paying for someone generally regarded as being only the THIRD best player in the world because it will certainly drive up the fees for average players. But that alone does not make this particular transfer any more interesting to the average fan.
The average fan does not really care about how much a player is bought or sold for, he/she just cares about whether or not they can play football.
Do Sky Sports really think that their viewing public will increase because they keep on, and on, and on, and on about Neymar? Do they really think that supporters of Blackpool, Brentford, Blackburn or Bolton give a damn about what happens with superstar players in Spain or France? The only thing their club has in common with Barcelona is that the names begin with the same letter!
The world record fee paid for Neymar does, however, throw up a couple of interesting questions for the financially minded. How much, for example, would it cost to buy Lionel Messi now? Or how much for Ronaldo?
Given that they are both the wrong side of 30 whilst Neymar is still only 25 it is probably fair to say that they would command a similar fee, the fact that they are older potentially offsetting the fact that they are better players.
There is speculation that Barcelona wish to buy Eden Hazard to replace Neymar but how much will Chelsea now think he is worth? How much for Luis Suarez or Antoine Griezmann?
The point is, that the only aspect of the Neymar transfer which is of any interest to anyone is the effect it will have on future transfers and even this has a very limited appeal to a very limited audience, certainly not to the match viewing public in general.
Unfortunately the average fan is now, and has been for a long time, treated with disdain by football clubs, players and the TV companies, all of whom are vying to see who can extract the most money from the hard working supporter. They have departments specifically designed to come up with new ways to take your dough, whether you attend the matches or watch from the comfort of your armchair or favourite pub seat.
There was an excellent article written by Sean Ingle of The Guardian back in 2005 on the subject of how fans are treated. Virtually everything that was happening then is still happening and nothing appears to have changed in the last twelve years. Here’s a link if you wish to read it, it’s well worth it!
So anyway, Neymar is now officially a PSG player, being paid enough money per week to clear the national debt of several small countries and much more than enough to feed a few thousand starving children but hey, this is football and what’s more important than football?
Of course this is the other problem with transfers such as this one in that it raises the moral issue. We at WSA are not a publication where such topics are discussed but, suffice to say that, if we were, we could probably get a heck of a lot of mileage out of it.
So, to recap, the only people who have any interest in the transfer of Neymar Jr to PSG are the fans of PSG, the fans of Barcelona, the lawyers at both clubs, the bankers at both clubs, the accountants at both clubs, the players at both clubs, his wife, Neymar Jr Jr, his father and agent, his mother, his sister, the managers of both clubs and the presidents of both clubs.
Also retaining an interest in the subject is Sky Sports News, for no other reason than it fills a bit of time in an otherwise wearisome day, and WSA because the number of reads this post gets will be an indication of whether we are correct or not about the interest, (or lack of), generated by this transfer.
And this brings us nicely round, full circle, back to where we started, so we’ll call it a day until next time.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 