In defence of Neymar's transfer fee

A season ticket at the Parc des Princes, home to Paris Saint-Germain, will set you back somewhere between £336 and £2,116, with individual tickets ranging from £25 to over £100, depending on how good your eyesight is. But this is a small price to pay in order to watch footballing luminaries like Edinson Cavani, Ángel di María and Dani Alves light up a league that has long been the sickly cousin of the European superpowers. Indeed, if you’re a PSG fan, this cost will be nothing compared to the phenomenal resurrection, started in 2011, of a European superpower that appeared to be in terminal decline.

PSG are on the verge of obliterating (and I don’t use that word lightly) the world transfer record in order to sign Barcelona striker Neymar for £198m, a cool £108.7m more than the previous record (Paul Pogba for Manchester United). A 10 per cent slice of that fee will go to Neymar’s father – also his agent – who is the sort of helicopter parent who can afford a helicopter.