Neymar’s €222million move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain has changed the face of the entire transfer market, according to sport finance specialist Dan Plumley.
The Brazilian’s world-record switch to Ligue 1 last August caused shock waves around the football world and had a knock-on effect in the January window.
Last Wednesday’s deadline passed at the end of a month which saw a number of seismic deals go through – including Barca smashing their own record in parting with €160m to prise Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool.
That was not the only activity at Anfield, as Virgil van Dijk joined from Southampton for £75m, while elsewhere in the Premier League Arsenal concluded a protracted pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, spending a club-record £56m to bring the striker in from Borussia Dortmund.
At 29 years of age, Aubameyang is nearer the end of his career than the beginning, but Plumley says clubs can afford to adopt an approach geared towards immediate success.
“At the top end where clubs have got substantial amounts of money, is it about short-term impulses? (Clubs are thinking) ‘Do we need somebody now that can come in and make a difference?’” he told reporters.
“The handful of world-class players … there’s not many so when a player becomes available like Aubameyang, Arsenal need to act quickly to secure that transfer.
“We know that the transfer is going to be in the region of £50million because if you look at that Neymar deal that went through in the summer … okay, I don’t think Barcelona ever expected anyone to hit that release clause, but the minute that fee gets reported the market shifts and you have inflation in the middle sector.”
