Despite PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi regularly stressing that PSG were complying with UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations after breaking the bank to land Neymar for a world-record £198 million, but there's word that the Parisians were ordered to take desperate measures to remain in the Champions League.
El Pais, the same outlet who claim Edinson Cavani was offered €1 million to relinquish penalty-taking duties (it's since been denied by PSG), claim that due to UEFA receiving complaints from leading European clubs such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus in relation to FFP, the governing body laid down the law with PSG and threatened to ban them from the 2018/19 Champions League even if they qualified.
Image: PA
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The story goes that after receiving that warning from UEFA, Al-Khelaifi recognised that they needed to offload some players to comply with FFP and after consulting with general manager Jean-Claude Blanc and players' agents, EIGHT PSG first-teamers not seen as indispensable were available for transfer within 48 hours.
Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore, Blaise Matuidi, Lucas Moura, Julian Draxler, Hatem Ben Arfa, Serge Aurier and even captain Thiago Silva are the names mentioned.
These three all featured on a stacked PSG transfer list. Image: PA
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Di Maria and Lucas were both linked with moves to Tottenham late in the window, but only Serge Aurier, the controversial right-back, left the Parc des Princes for the white half of North London in a £23 million move. Ben Arfa, despite being deemed surplus to requirements, couldn't get a move away, while Draxler also remained at the club - though Blaise Matuidi was allowed to leave for Juventus.
The news is just the latest in what has been a packed circle of stories following on from Neymar' record-breaking move.
Aside from the latest update regarding the Brazilian and Edinson Cavani, which has been refuted by PSG, Neymar's 'leaked' wages have been doing the rounds. Football Leaks and Der Spiegel claim that Neymar earns a whopping €3,069,520 euros a month at PSG.
Image: PA
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Which works at around €100,000 euros a day - that's almost €37 million annually. The report also states that Neymar asked Barcelona to pay him €3.65 million on August 1.
The leak also claims that PSG may have to pay a fee of €242 million to Barcelona for the purchase of Neymar.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: PSG, Champions League