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La Liga on Thursday, citing UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rule, refused to accept PSG’s payment of Neymar’s release clause to see him complete his historic move from Barcelona to the French side.
UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules stipulate that a club’s wage bill must not exceed 70 percent of its revenue.
READ: Why La Liga, not Barcelona, is rejecting Neymar’s £198m release clause money from PSG
Reports have it that Neymar’s lawyers are preparing to make another joirney to Spain to make the payment.
Football stakeholders are reacting in different ways. One of them is Arsene Wenger who is known for his conservative transfer spending in Arsenal.
French President Emmanuel Macron
“It adds attractiveness. Yes, it’s good news,”
Arsenal Manager, Arsene Wenger
“For me, it is the consequence of the ownerships and that has completely changed the whole landscape of football in the last 15 years.
“Once a country owns a club, everything is possible.
“It becomes very difficult to respect the financial fair play because you can have different ways or different interests for a country to have such a big player to represent a country.
“It can’t justify the investments and looks unusual for the game.”
“We are not in a period anymore where you think, in some places: ‘If I invest that, I will get that back.’ We are beyond that.
“The number today involves a lot of passion, pride, public interest and you cannot rationalise that anymore.
“It also looks like the inflation is accelerating. We crossed the 100 million (euros) line last year (when Paul Pogba joined Manchester United from Juventus) and, only one year later, we’re crossing the 200 million line.
“When you think that Trevor Francis was the first £1 million player and that looked unreasonable, it shows you how much distance and how far we have come, how big football has become.
“It’s beyond calculation and beyond rationality.”
Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp
“There are clubs that can pay fees like that — Manchester City and PSG. Everyone knows that.
“I thought fair play was made so that situations like that can’t happen. That’s more of a suggestion than a real rule. I don’t understand that. I don’t know how it happens”.
Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho
“When we paid that amount for Paul, I said that it was not expensive. Expensive are the ones who get into a certain level without a certain quality… For £200m, I don’t think (Neymar) is expensive.
“I think he’s expensive in the fact that now you are going to have more players at 100 million pounds, you are going have more players at 80 million and more players at 60 million. And I think that’s the problem.
“Neymar is one of the best players in the world, commercially he is very strong and for sure PSG thought about it. So I think the problem is not Neymar, I think the problem is the consequences of Neymar.”