Juventus star Gianluigi Buffon has admitted that he does not understand the fees that players are being bought and sold for in this transfer market.
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Neymar, for example, has been associated with a €222 million move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, while there has also been speculation that Monaco striker Kylian Mbappe could make a €180m transfer to Manchester City, Real Madrid, PSG or Barcelona.
“It all sounds fake,” the 39-year-old goalkeeper told Gazzetta dello Sport. “Why is Neymar worth €220m and not €600m? My grandfather always said: ‘Inflate and inflate, but the balloon will always burst.’
“I can’t understand the parameters for evaluating a player anymore. It’s all very random and everything is in the hands of the people who have the most money: today it’s 10 but tomorrow it’s 100.”
The Juve legend believes that his side’s domestic dominance will be challenged by AC Milan, purely because of the cash the San Siro club have splashed.
“I think they’ll be competitors because they have spent so much money, even if there is a state of indefinite value in this market,” he said.
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Juventus go into this campaign, which Buffon has said may be his last, seeking a seventh successive domestic crown, having claimed a record sixth in May.