FFP, player power & a terrible injury record: Chelsea must steer clear of signing PSG pariah Neymar

Neymar has been touted as a potential marquee signing for Chelsea's owners ever since their Clearlake Capital-backed takeover last year, with rumours coming in peaks and troughs. However, 12 months on they haven't gone away, and The Athletic now claims there is a lingering hope at PSG that the Blues' fire sale of expendable players to Saudi Arabia means they could yet fund a deal.

French media reported earlier in June that Chelsea had opened talks over the player, although any whispers that things are at that advanced stage have since fallen silent. There is no smoke without fire, though, and the Blues' new-look hierarchy has already shown its ruthlessness in the transfer window.

There is a litany of reasons why Chelsea should swerve a move for the Neymar, and chief among them is his injury record. The 31-year-old has missed more than half the games he could have played during his time at PSG overall, and his 2022-23 campaign ended in February when he suffered ankle ligament damage and was forced to undergo surgery.

Many of the countless fitness issues he has faced have been no fault of his own as he has been targeted by some agricultural defending in Ligue 1, but there is no reason to believe that would be any different in the Premier League. His body has taken a battering, and that surely must have taken its toll.

Pursuing Neymar would be counterproductive to Chelsea's entire transfer strategy this summer as they look to trim a bloated squad and a soaring wage bill. The club finds itself in dire need of selling players after posting significant losses in the two previous seasons and splurging an eye-watering £600m ($763m) on new players in 2022-23. That leaves them in grave danger of failing to stay within the Premier League's three-year limit on losses of £105m ($133.6m) or more, and the Blues have already been added to UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FFP) watchlist.

Signing Neymar in the upcoming window, then, would be utterly baffling; the Brazilian earns an eye-watering €700,000 per week (£602,000/$768,000) in the French capital, and with two years remaining on his contract, PSG are still said to value him at around £70m ($89m). It's a deal that would distort the Blues' wage structure and add a huge bulk to their losses.

Away from the finances, one very simple argument against signing Neymar is that Chelsea do not have space in their squad for another attacking player who isn't a striker. Despite Kai Havertz leaving for Arsenal and both Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being set to follow him through the exit door, the Blues are still well stocked in the wide areas and have already added Christopher Nkunku as a potential No.10.

Villarreal's Nicolas Jackson is another forward who is expected to be added, joining the likes of Raheem Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke. Christian Pulisic's probable departure does raise the question of whether more depth is required, but a 31-year-old Neymar does not seem like the right fit for that role - especially given the club's recent strategy of signing players aged 25 or under.

The inflated influence of the playing staff has long been a purported issue within the walls of Cobham. It is believed that Chelsea's previous owner, Roman Abramovich, would often bow to the grumblings of the squad about any given head coach, contributing to the slew of managerial casualties during his regime.

It has been reported that new co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali are determined to change that, despite the fact they are on to their third full-time manager in the space of a year. The clear-out of the squad they are currently undertaking is partly aimed at reducing player power, according to The Telegraph.

Signing Neymar, then, would surely be hugely counterproductive. He is arguably the embodiment of player power, having regularly used his significant influence to his own benefit at PSG alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappe and, more recently, Lionel Messi. His clear sense of untouchable-ness has been reflected in numerous spats with managers and team-mates, as well as raucous parties not long before matches - all of which has contributed to an ugly breakdown in relations with the fans. Most recently, he angered the club by skipping their title celebrations to attend the Spanish Grand Prix.

Although co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley are now in charge of Chelsea's transfer strategy, the club's new hierarchy has already had some horrible, high-profile transfer misses. Aubameyang, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella - all signed during Boehly's time as acting sporting director, the latter two for big money - all endured very poor debut seasons at Stamford Bridge, with Koulibaly having already departed and Aubameyang also heading for an exit.

Those two were arguably past their best when Chelsea committed to signing them, and the club cannot afford to make the same mistake with an even more costly move for Neymar.