Paris Saint-Germain paid a staggering £198m in 2017 for Neymar in a bid to win their first Champions League crown, making him the most expensive player ever. Obviously it goes wihout saying that they had pinned all their hopes on him to help them achieve their sky-high expectations.
The Brazilian superstar was expected to turn the club into a European powerhouse and establish himself as the best player on the planet. But it wasn’t long before the first indications began manifesting to show that there was trouble brewing in paradise.
Neymar had not only fallen short in providing value for money as he fell victim to a number of injuries, he actually did a full about-turn and made the shock decision to leave again for Barcelona despite having left them unexpectedly in a less-than-amicable altercation after having been one of their stars playing alongside his buddies, Messi and Suarez.
The 28-year-old has been hounded by injuries since making the move to Paris, beginning with a fractured metatarsal in February, 2018, which brought the curtains down early in a premature end to a promising first season at the club.
Then, in the 2018-19 season, his Achilles heel acted up again with another foot injury that kept him out of a crucial Champions League encounter with Manchester United. He watched from the sidelines as PSG were knocked out and was later banned for three matches for pouting on Instagram about the referee awarding a late penalty.
Last summer he suffered a broken ankle for Brazil, then hamstring and rib injuries after returning to action for his club. All of which had added up to aliving nightmare for the Brazilian national
All of those problems have meant Neymar has played just 80 of a possible 155 games in all competitions for PSG since joining almost three years ago. That’s just 51 per cent of their matches.
In that time, he has been paid a whopping £97m in wages, which equates to more than £1.2m per appearance. The club’s total expenditure on Neymar so far stands at almost £300m – and there’s more to come.
That’s not to say that when he has been on the pitch, he’s been a disappointment. Neymar has scored an incredible 69 goals in his 80 appearances, with 47 in 52 Ligue 1 appearances and another 14 in just 17 Champions League ties.
He has been aggressive and vocal in pushing for a return to Barcelona and the recent Ligue 1 cancellation may actually help his cause.
It was earlier claimed that not only did Neymar fancy the astronomical wages he was offered in Paris, he had in fact also wanted to moveout of the gigantic shadow of Lionel Messi at Barcelona besides wanting to challenge his friend for the Ballon d’Or.
But instead of hitting the ground running and stunning his new employers then and the Parisian crowds and leading PSG to Champions League glory and being crowned the world’s best player, Neymar landed instead on the treatment table where he has spent much of his time in France. That and the bench.
Now he’s left desperately pining for a return to the Nou Camp.