The prices some players are going for nowadays are almost unbelievable…
Football changed in dramatic ways in 2017.
Real Madrid won yet another Champions League in an…unorthodox fashion, Arsenal FC were beaten so drastically by Bayern Munich that they decided to take a long hiatus from the Champions League…and Neymar moved from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in a €222 million, making him by far the most expensive transfer in the world and shattering any preconceived notions on what transfer fees should look like. Nine-digit transfer fees were rare then, but not so much anymore.
In an interview with Tz, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, Bayern’s CFO Michael Diederich was asked about how €100 million transfers were inconceivable just a decade ago, the ways the market has evolved in the last decade and where we will be in a decade. Of course, Diederich pointed to the Neymar transfer as the catalyst for the market’s recent trends: “The Neymar transfer from Barcelona to Paris broke all barriers. The market is complex and is becoming more and more complex. And there are inflationary tendencies that are not necessarily good for the sport. Could we afford big fees? In very well-founded individual cases, yes. Do we want to? Only if there’s a really special need. With Harry Kane, it was clear to us.”
It truly was inconceivable just a decade ago how regularly clubs have spent over €100 million on a player. It makes one wonder how ridiculous the transfer sums could be in a decade. Or if the footballing bubble will have finally popped by then.