Barcelona One year since the 'sale of the century'

Sports Desk: A year has passed, but the wound has not healed. On this day in 2017, the impossible took place and before it nobody, (Barcelona supporter or not) would have thought Paris Saint-Germain would pay the 222 million euros to sign Neymar.

The transfer changed everything in both LaLiga and Ligue 1, and football has not been the same since. The market itself is still paying the consequences of the event, with price inflation rising to the highest it has ever been.

A year later, it is not clear who won, if anyone even did, as all parties are yet to achieve what they proposed they would at the time. Barcelona in particular were thought to be the most affected by the departure of the young star, yet they still managed to win LaLiga.

When it comes to the fluidity of the team however, the Catalan club has not finished recovering from the departure of one of its star players. The PSG player, who wanted to flee from the shadow of Lionel Messi, has not been duly relieved.

Neymar was said to be the next heir to the Camp Nou once Messi had finished his journey and to this day, nobody has stepped up to fill that position.

In the past 12 months, Barcelona have spent 400m euros on signings and none of the replacements seem to be at the leadership level required by the club. Ousmane Dembele was a fiasco in his first year, marked by constant injuries, and Philippe Coutinho, with all the skill that he posses, is not Neymar.

Once Neymar left, the fearsome attacking line-up of Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, known as the MSN, disappeared.

A setback from his personal goals

From the point of view of the player, there are several indications that Neymar's decision to go to Paris in the hope of becoming the best player in the world was not an accurate one.

Even his former teammate Gerard Pique told him publicly, at a press conference in Washington last summer, that he was living in a real-life soap opera.

"If it's because of the role he has in the team due to Messi, I believe he should not go to Paris; he will be going to a smaller league and I hope he will succeed because he was once a champion," explained Pique.

This mentality was seemingly impossible for Neymar to keep as seen after his first season at the Parc de Princes.

A year later, the No. 10 has the same number of international titles as when he left Barcelona and, what is worse in a player who ambitions for individual trophies, has been left out of the World Cup Golden Ball and FIFA's The Best award finalists.

That is, for those who serve as judges within the world of football, he no longer is considered as one of the best on the planet.

PSG victory at a cost

Leaving aside the salary increase of Neymar (and his father, Neymar Sr.), the only winner identified in this whole story so far is PSG.

And, even with all the drama that embodied this transfer saga, the club remained a winner within the league, creating only a subtle difference.

The Parisians will always be able to say they successfully deprived Barcelona of one of their biggest stars, however that only means the agencies controlling the Financial Fair Play observe them with a magnifying glass.

The club walks a thin line in this case and there are many people wanting them to fall.

On a sporting level, they have not yet been able to reap the fruit they so desire. The Brazilian was injured the second half of the season and, even when he was able to play, his addition to the team sparked fire in the dressing room.

Now with Kylian Mbappe cemented as a star after his amazing World Cup in Russia, Neymar's individual goal to become the best in the world is only further limited.

Source: Marca
 

risingbd/Dhaka/August 03, 2018/A K Azad