Man City attempted to obliterate transfer record years before £200m Neymar deal

Analysis

FT Desk

In 2017, Paris Saint-Germain smashed the world transfer record to sign Neymar from Barcelona after they triggered his £200m release clause.

The Brazilian, keen to distance himself from the shadow of Lionel Messi at the Catalan side, believed he could fulfil his potential to become the best player in the world in Paris and win the Ballon d'Or.

He didn't reach that target, and the monumental transfer itself dwarves any impact that Neymar had on the pitch in Paris, as it remains the biggest deal in the history of football - and by some distance, too.

The second-largest transfer of all time is Kylian Mbappe's switch to PSG, which cost the Ligue 1 side £156m a year later after he spent the 2017/18 season on loan.

The Neymar deal is one that is generally seen as having "broken" the transfer market as no transfer since has gone beyond the £200m mark despite the vast sums that are regularly spent, particularly in the Premier League.

But, seven years previously, newly-rich Manchester City were prepared to obliterate the market by doubling the world transfer record.

Before the summer of 2009, the most expensive deal ever was Zinedine Zidane's transfer to Real Madrid from Juventus for £46m in 2001.

That price remarkably lasted eight years until Real Madrid broke the record twice in the one window in 2009, first by signing Kaka from Milan for £56m and then by signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for £80m.

Before the Brazilian put pen to paper to move to the Santiago Bernabeu, he was seen as the ideal marquee signing to mark the new Abu Dhabi era at Man City.

Indeed, reports emerged at the time from BBC Sport that the Premier League side were willing to pay Milan £100m to sign Kaka, as well as offer him a staggering £500,000 per week to play at the Etihad.

This was 17 years ago.

City were looking to DOUBLE the previous transfer record set by Zidane and pay £100m for Kaka seven years before anyone actually hit that kind of an outlay to sign a footballer.

Now Man City are facing 114 charges from the Premier League of financial breaches between 2009 and 2018.

They are being charged with not giving the league a complete and accurate picture of their financial situation, including details surrounding sponsorship deals, revenue, expenses and payments to players and managers.

The club were also accused of breaking Premier League financial regulations and UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules. On top of this, the Premier League claimed that City failed to properly assist with its investigation by not providing certain documents and information. City have strongly denied the allegations throughout the case.

Though there is still an element of shock in the football community that the club has finally been charged after all these years, the signs were always there - just look at that £100m bid for Kaka.