by Michael Kachitsa
On this day back in 2017, Barcelona announced that Neymar’s legal representatives made a payment of €222 million to the club, an amount equal to the release clause of the Brazilian’s contract.
It was a bit of an unusual situation, as the release clause must be activated by the footballer himself and the fee should be paid to La Liga and not to the club directly.
However, La Liga refused to receive the payment, saying PSG are violating the Financial Fair Play rules, so Neymar’s representatives decided to send the money to Barcelona’s account instead.
The deal went through in the end, despite the potential irregularities, while Neymar became the most expensive player in the world, a record he is still holding with the transfer fee of €222 million.
The Brazilian was signed by the French giants with only one purpose – the lead them to the Champions League title.
Neymar had already won the European crown with Barcelona when he arrived in Paris, but failed to reach his main objective in his two years at the Parc des Princes, with the injuries playing their part in the whole story.
He made his debut in a 3–0 away victory over Guingamp, scoring his debut goal in Ligue 1 and setting up another. In his second game, Neymar scored two and produced two assists, as PSG thump Toulouse 6-2.
His Champions League games are real proof that the Brazilian got used to life in Paris really quickly, as he noted six goals and three assists in the group stage against Bayern, Celtic and Anderlecht. The French giants won the group with 15 points, netting 25 goals in six games, an average of more than four per game.
However, their Champions League pursuit ended in the Round of 16, where they lost 5-1 on aggregate to the defending champions at the time – Real Madrid.
Neymar was pretty quiet in the first game at the Santiago Bernabeu, while he missed the second leg due to a metatarsal injury, which kept him away of the football grounds until the end of the season.
The Brazilian finished his debut campaign in the French Ligue 1 with 19 goals and 13 assists in 20 games, winning the competition for the first time in his career. He was also named as the Ligue 1 Player of the Season.