There should be a long line of clubs lining up to sign Neymar from PSG this summer, but despite being one of the world's most recognizable footballers – and one with an incredible goal-scoring record to back it up – the Brazil forward has become the superstar that no one seems to want.
Financial realities and shifting football philosophies have conspired to make signing the 30-year-old a no-brainer for every club that could afford him.
According to the terms of the three-year contract Neymar signed at Parc des Princes a year ago, an automatic 12-month extension will be triggered on July 1, implying that he will remain with the French champions until his mid-30s.
However, it has become an open secret within the game that Neymar – who is still the world's most expensive player after his €222 million ($264m) move from Barcelona in 2017 – is available for a loan or permanent move during this transfer window, with sources telling ESPN that PSG would gladly offload his €700,000-a-week ($730,000) wages due to the financial burden of paying Kylian Mbappe – who himself signed a new three-year deal last month after appearing to join Real Madrid.
Despite PSG's Qatari owners' enormous wealth, there is still a need for the club to project the image of being run as a viable business, so reducing the wage bill is a necessity, but Neymar's recent fitness record and difficult relationship with the team's last two coaches, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino, are also factors in PSG's willingness to listen to offers for the player.
According to ESPN, Pochettino became extremely frustrated with what he perceived to be the club's hierarchy's soft treatment of Neymar when the former Tottenham Hotspur coach wanted to impose firmer discipline and introduce stricter rules regarding off-field conduct. Tuchel, on the other hand, struggled to get the best out of the player.
Neymar's performance on the field over the last three years has also been a letdown. In three seasons, he has only made 55 Ligue 1 appearances, scoring 35 goals. Although he helped PSG reach the Champions League final in 2020, where Tuchel's team lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon, Neymar has never been the talisman in that competition that he was signed to be five years ago.
So it's easy to see why PSG are willing to let him go, especially now that Mbappe and Messi have surpassed him in terms of star power at the club. However, while it is easy to argue why PSG can thrive without Neymar .
Despite his injury issues, Neymar is still young enough to play at the highest level for at least four more years at the age of 30. Since joining Barcelona from Santos in 2013, Neymar has scored 205 goals in 330 appearances for Barca and PSG, with an additional 136 assists. He has also scored 74 goals in 119 games for Brazil, second only to Pele's 77 for the five-time World Cup winners.
Neymar's misfortune is that his record pales into insignificance when compared to Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two modern greats who have always overshadowed him, so he may not receive the recognition his abilities deserve. However, Messi and Ronaldo
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