Paris Saint-Germain’s record-breaking €222 million move for Neymar was an act of “revenge” by the club’s Qatari owners on Barcelona, claims Louis van Gaal.
The Ligue 1 giants caused quite a stir during the most recent window when they embarked on an elaborate recruitment drive.
PSG 13/2 to win Champions League
Van Gaal has accused the transfer system of becoming “rotten”, with wealthy clubs now holding more power than governing bodies – with PSG seeing their activity investigated by UEFA amid concerns regarding Financial Fair Play.
The French outfit insist they have done nothing wrong, and Van Gaal believes their move for Neymar was driven purely by the desire of Qatar Sports Investments to get one over on Barca following the end of a lucrative sponsorship deal.
The Dutchman, who took in two spells as manager at Camp Nou during his distinguished coaching career, told AD: "The total system is rotten, which is becoming clearer.
“If you see how the transfer of Neymar came about, it's just the revenge of some Sheikh that was released by Barcelona as a sponsor. It has nothing to do with money, just with that Sheikh [Nasser Al-Khelaifi] and his feelings.
“Well, so far, we have fallen down in football. But the coach can't do anything about it.”
Van Gaal added: "Football is not the most pure world.
“I've been working in it for 46 years now. As an individual, I cannot change that world. UEFA and FIFA should do that. But at the moment, the clubs seem to have more power than those two bodies."
After completing a move for Neymar, PSG went on to put another agreement in place for Kylian Mbappe.
The teenage forward has joined them on an initial loan from reigning Ligue 1 champions Monaco, but the deal will end up costing them €180m.
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)