PSG: Neymar should have learnt from Thiago Silva
The lack of harmony and mutual identity between the club, the coaches, and the players is one of the key challenges facing Paris Saint-Germain.
It is said that it was Dani Alves who finally convinced Neymar to leave Barcelona for Paris. Yet at that point, Alves was still in Turin. When he formulated a plan behind Barça’s back, he did not know what was really happening at his future club in the French capital.
Neymar should have asked Thiago Silva
Neymar could have have listened to a more informed voice – one of his close friends in the Brazil squad who, four years ago, was close to leaving PSG due to that same lack of harmony.
Thiago Silva had an agreement with Barcelona in the summer of 2013. Diario AS stated in an exclusive at the time that the centre-half was willing to leave Paris one year after PSG had paid AC Milan €42 million for his services.
Thiago Silva was unhappy at the club. His family was not happy in France, and throughout that summer his inner circle made no secret of the player’s desire to move to Spain. What Thiago Silva did not expect was the contract PSG would offer him as an incentive to stay. €12 million euros net per year for five years. In other words, he became one of the ten best-paid players on the planet. The offer was too good to refuse, and he decided to stay.
Players queuing up to jump PSG ship
Marco Verratti tried to leave last summer but could not. Edinson Cavani has been in search for another club for years. And they are just three examples.
PSG’s mentality places money above all else. That is their strategy to become one of the elite, and they will not allow the best players in the world to leave. Neymar had it all at Barcelona, but wanted more...