Neymar's Transfer To PSG Is The Largest Player Transaction In Sports History

Neymar da Silva Santos Junior — or as you know him, Neymar– is reportedly on the verge of completing a transfer from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain. This deal hasn’t been officially completed, but everything is pointing in that direction. When it is consummated, his transfer will be the largest player transaction in sports history.

Just for the transfer, PSG will cough up €222 million ($263.2 million in U.S. dollars), on top of that the club must agree to a new contract with Neymar. Reports suggest that has been done, and the 25-year-old Brazilian is set to ink a five-year deal with his new club that will see him make €45 million a year ($53.35 million) before taxes. If you break it down, Neymar will earn €865,000 a week, or $1.025 million in U.S. dollars.

It’s worth noting, Neymar has been pretty good at Barcelona:

In total, Neymar’s transfer will cost somewhere around €500 million, or $592.6 million. To put that in perspective, James Harden just signed the biggest contract in NBA history with the Houston Rockets and the total value of the new deal is $228 million. Stephen Curry also recently signed a new contract with the Golden State Warriors worth $201 million over five years. Neither of those reach even half the cost of what PSG is shelling out.

Baseball’s richest contract went to Giancarlo Stanton when he signed a 13-year, $325 million deal with the Miami Marlins in 2014. That contract pays him $25 million per season, less than half of what Neymar will make.

The most money an NFL player has ever been guaranteed at signing is the “paltry” $59.995 million Ndamukong Suh got when he inked his deal with the Miami Dolphins in 2015.

So yeah, nothing in the sports world has ever come close to what this Neymar deal will cost.

Just to give you more of an idea of how insane this transfer is, in 2014 Herb Kohl sold the Milwaukee Bucks to Wesley Edens for $550 million. That means with the money PSG spent on Neymar, they could have bought the Bucks and had $42.6 million left over to…I don’t know, take to Vegas for the greatest weekend ever?

It’s also worth mentioning that Neymar’s €222 million transfer more than doubles the previous world record. That was set in 2016 when Manchester United landed Paul Pogba from Juventus for €105 million.

Next time someone complains about how much American athletes make, kindly point them in the direction of European football.

UPDATE: It’s officially official.