Neymar: Paris St-Germain sign Barcelona star for world record 222m euros

The 25-year-old will be rolled out to fans on Saturday at PSG's first game of the season against Amiens at Parc des Princes

Neymar is expected to complete a world record move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain. Reuters

Paris St-Germain have signed Brazil forward Neymar, 25, for a world record fee of 222m euros from Barcelona.
The deal smashes the previous record set when Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United from Juventus for £89m in August 2016.
Neymar will earn 45m euros a year - 865,000 euros a week - before tax from the initial five-year deal, a total outlay of £400m.

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Neymar said, “Paris St-Germain's ambition attracted me to the club, along with the passion and the energy this brings.

"I feel ready to take the challenge. From today, I will do everything I can to help my new team-mates."

Neymar will be rolled out to fans on Saturday at PSG's first game of the season against Amiens at Parc des Princes.

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Spain's La Liga initially rejected payment of a record-breaking release clause that would allow Neymar to leave Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain, a source from the national football league said.

A group of lawyers representing Neymar visited La Liga in Madrid to try to settle the transfer and pay the €222 million (Dh965.6m) break fee.

La Liga president, Javier Tebas, had warned in an interview that Spain's league would not accept payment by PSG to trigger the release clause, saying it was potentially in breach of Uefa Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. Under the those rules, a club's wage bill must not exceed 70 per cent of its revenue.

Uefa, European football's governing body, told Reuters on Wednesday that had been no complaint received so far about PSG in this respect, adding that it would not block any potential deal in advance.