Jurgen Klopp questions Neymar deal as FFP doubts grow
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Updated 03/08/2017 at 09:56 GMT
Jurgen Klopp says Paris Saint-Germain’s imminent £198m purchase of Neymar makes a mockery of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations.
Trainer des FC Liverpool: Jürgen Klopp
Image credit: Getty Images
The Ligue 1 club are on the brink of smashing the world transfer record to sign Barcelona’s Brazilian star, even though the size of the deal – worth as much as £500m when wages and bonuses are taken into account, according to some reports – would seem to be incompatible with FFP rules, which essentially state clubs cannot spend more than they earn.
“I thought FFP was made so situations like that could not happen,” Klopp said. “But it seems it is more of a suggestion than a rule. I don’t understand how it happens.
“There are only two clubs who can pay transfer fees like that - Manchester City and PSG, and everyone knows that. But I hope this deal is an exception not the next step for football. I don’t know.”
According to Deloitte’s Football Money League report, published in January, PSG enjoyed revenue of €520.9m in 2016, up from €480.8m. However they did drop out of the top five.
La Liga, which stands to lose one of its biggest stars, is doubtful about figures, showcased in the Deloitte report, which show PSG having a bigger commercial income than the two of the most famous clubs in the world.
UEFA said in a statement to the BBC earlier this week:
We are not in a position to stop clubs from buying players, but the clubs will face sanctions if they fail to abide by Financial Fair Play rules. The impact of a potential transfer of Neymar to PSG would have an effect on the club finances over several years. It is very difficult to judge this type of operation in advance as we do not know the plans of the French club. They could well sell a few players for a similar or even superior amount. Sanctions would be applied if the club has demonstrated that they have losses of over 30m euros (£26.81m) over three years.
Neymar has said goodbye to his team-mates and has been granted leave by Barcelona to complete the transfer.
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