L'Équipe: Full agreement between Neymar and PSG
The French club have offered the player a five year contract worth €30 million net per year
Now the PSG directors hope to convince Barça to accept an offer to reduce the cost of the transfer
If the feelings emanating from the squad in the US regarding Neymar’s future are negative, the impressions from France are pointing in the same direction. The newspaper L’Équipe report that there is now full agreement between the player and PSG and now PSG are going to try to negotiate a fee that makes the colossal fee involved slightly lower.
While Neymar was scoring in Barcelona’s win over Manchester United, L’Équipe reported that “everything seems ready, or almost ready, for the transfer of the century to be completed”. The broad agreement has been in place since last week (5 year contract, annual salary of €30 million net), and the fine print has now been agreed. “In other words, the club and the player are now in full agreement regarding the conditions of his contract,” the paper said.
Now the PSG directors are focussing on negotiating with Neymar to reach an agreement that would meet the €222 million release fee but would avoid some of the taxes due on the fee if the player deposits the fee. According to the sports lawyer Thierry Granturco, the taxes would push the fee up to around €300 million in total.
As happened with the transfer of the handball star Nicola Karabatic in 2015, the clubs would agree a fee higher than the release fee that would meet Barça’s expectations but not torpedo PSG’s finances. In that case, Barça received €1.2 million when the release fee was €1 million after Barça agreed a fee rather than the strict application of the release fee.
It’s clear that PSG can only make this offer to Barça if they have authorisation from the player, who is keeping his silence. But he might break this silence in the build-up to the clásico against Real Madrid.
