PSG Needs a Neymar Backup Plan
Neymar is recovering from ankle surgery, but PSG shouldn't wait to see if he returns to full strength.
I’ve made my feelings about Neymar Jr. very clear. He is a generational talent who can instantly transform a match with his dribbling and passing ability…when he’s healthy.
That caveat carries so much weight because the fact of the matter is Neymar has rarely been healthy during his Paris Saint-Germain career. He is often injured and seemingly goes down when PSG needs him most—during the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Last February, Neymar rolled his ankle in a match against Lille and ultimately decided to end his season and opt for ankle surgery, hoping he would come back stronger than before.
The jury is still out on whether the surgery will be a success. We haven’t seen Neymar play a competitive match since going down earlier this season, but the expectation is that Neymar will return to training sometime this summer.
For PSG, they have to be strategic about Neymar’s situation. Doing nothing and simply letting Neymar come back into the squad would be foolish, to say the least. But, with such a high-profile player on a long-term contract, it will not be easy for PSG to find a solution. Luckily, I’ve mapped out a couple of options below:
Sell to Saudi Arabia
This is the easiest route for Paris Saint-Germain. Teams in the Saudi Pro League are spending money at a rate that makes PSG fans blush. Rúben Neves completed a move to Al Hilal at the age of 26, and Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante will be playing for Al-Ittihad next season. In addition to Kante, several other Chelsea players, including Edouard Mendy, Pierre Aubameyang, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Hakim Ziyech, could be making the move to the Saudi Pro League in the coming weeks.
So, if Chelsea can offload their overpriced players to a desperate league where money isn’t an obstacle, why can’t PSG sell Neymar to a Saudi club? Neymar has a contract with PSG until 2025, with a player option for another year. He’ll have to agree to the transfer and work out terms with them, but why wouldn’t he? This is a player who takes money to promote sketchy online casino companies via social media, why wouldn’t he agree to double—maybe triple—his wages and go to a league that features the aforementioned players as well as Cristiano Ronaldo?
Neymar may want to prove he can return from ankle surgery and lead PSG to a Champions League title, but I just don’t see that fairytale coming to fruition. In seven years at PSG, Neymar has proven he can’t stay healthy, and for that reason alone, PSG should be on the phone with his representatives and Saudi Pro League to see if a deal can get done this summer.
If PSG can get a transfer fee of €60 million or more for Neymar, that will help facilitate finding a replacement and building a more balanced and drama-free squad.
Sign replacements
If a deal with a Saudi club can’t be done, PSG has to find a player that is close to Neymar’s quality and can step in and perform if and when Neymar goes down.
At 20-years-old, Xavi Simons could be that player. This past season, the PSV Eindhoven attacker led the Eredivisie in scoring with 22 goals and added nine assists to his record. He left PSG last summer in a somewhat surprising move for €4 million, but the capital club knew what they had in Simons, which is why they added a buy-back clause.
Now, according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, that buy-back clause is less than €12 million, which makes this a must-do deal for PSG. The only thing complicating the transfer is convincing Simons to come back to the French capital.
With Luis Enrique likely coming to manage PSG, that could entice the Simons to return, given their ties to FC Barcelona, but more than that, PSG has to promise him playing time, even if that means Neymar taking a step back to stay fit when it matters most.
In addition to Simons, PSG should prioritize Bernardo Silva. The Manchester City midfielder is coming off a Champions League title and is very familiar with Ligue 1 and Kylian Mbappé from his time with AS Monaco.
Silva won’t come cheap. Transfermarkt puts his current market value at €80 million, and City will want every bit of that. However, it’s a deal that Luis Campos, PSG’s sporting director, has to get done.
The midfield lacked creativity last season in the absence of Neymar, and it resulted in long-ball tactics. If PSG can trot out an attack featuring Mbappé, Silva/Simons, and Marco Asensio, with Neymar slotting in when healthy, that’s a very promising attack that should create scoring chances and convert. If PSG can also add a proper striker, like Harry Kane, I think Les Parisiens would be a favorite to win the Champions League next season.