THIS was supposed to be Paris St Germain’s year, remember? That was what so many were saying after the 12-1 aggregate Champions League win against Celtic earlier in the season. This was one of the finest club sides ever assembled, losing by a score of this magnitude no disgrace.
The argument about the merits of the Parkhead side’s efforts over those two games was well rehearsed at the time, even amongst the club’s own supporters, and I have no real desire to re-open it here. Certainly, the scorelines seemed a pretty fair reflection of the disparity in resources between the two teams.
But the demise of the billionaires of Billancourt at the last 16 stage against Real Madrid on Tuesday night still seemed worthy of comment, not least the 5-2 aggregate cuffing meant they ultimately didn’t get any further than last year. In boardrooms all across the continent, the old money of European football was rubbing its hands with delight after a reminder that all the new money in the world sometimes only buys you the footballing equivalent of the Emperor’s new clothes.
Maybe they were just unlucky. Maybe, were it not for the broken metatarsal sustained by Neymar, effectively ending his season, PSG would still be in line to become the first French winners of this trophy since Bernard Tapie and Marseille in the first year of this competition. For all the supporting cast, Neymar is PSG’s Lionel Messi, not just the star turn of this production, but the conductor of its orchestra too.
Maybe, maybe not. Because as much as money talks across all levels of the game. there are no sure things - particularly when it gets to this exalted stage of the continental game. Even if injuries weren’t part of football, a Barcelona side at the peak of their powers can still be frustrated by a ten-man Inter Milan. So why shouldn’t Real Madrid, languishing some 15 points behind Barcelona, and six off Atletico Madrid, arrive in Paris with a battle-hardened, experienced team and win the day?
In some ways, PSG have made great strides in the seven years since the Qataris took control back in 2011. According to Deloitte, the club’s income is now up to half a billion Euros a season, the sixth most in the world.
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The club’s overall value currently stands at $ 841m, good enough for a place just outside the world’s top 10. But the whole point of sport is to win things and bring glory to the club. And however alluring the club’s fifth Ligue 1 title out of seven proves when it will almost certainly arrive this summer (Monaco took the title last season and little Montpelier back in 2011-12) it is coming at quite a cost. You can throw in hat-trick of three French Cups and three League Cups but considering the club committed to half a billion pounds on Neymar alone last season, and will have the two most expensive players in history on their books next year, it is hardly value for money.
By this analysis, some were already calculating yesterday that Neymar’s knock might be the costliest injury in the history of the sport. If the whole point of Neymar arriving, as stated, was to capture the Champions League, when you calculate his estimated salary of £35m plus say a £25m depreciation in his overall value, then that broken foot might have cost something in the region of £60m. The most discussed Brazilian injury in Paris since Ronaldo on the eve of the World Cup final in 1998, there have been conspiracy theories that the extent of the injury has been inflated by Brazilian doctors to keep him fresh for the World Cup.
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What happens now? Well, expect manager Unai Emery, whose contract expires at the season, to be made the immediate scapegoat. After a modest January window by the club’s standards - in came Lassana Diarra to add depth to holding midfield, out went Lucas Moura in a nod to Financial Fair Play - expect more new players this summer, even though the bill for Mbappe remains due.
As for Neymar, expect continual intrigue over where he will play his football, regardless of comments like these in the immediate aftermath of the match. “I am sad for defeat, much sadder for not being in the field helping my companions!!” he wrote. “What makes me proud is to see everyone’s effort. Congratulations my guys, ALLEZ PARIS.” Comiseration seemed a more appropriate sentiment after football proved that there are still some things that money just can’t buy.
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