If you insist:
Miggy (2 tweets)
The cases of City and Nasser el Khelaifi ultimately showcase the influence of non-democratic states in football. To quote City's own Simon Pearce in his own email. "We can do whatever we want." This is very much the attitude.
Was told by people involved that one of the principles behind the Neymar signing was to "short-squeeze" the market. Elevate fees and wages so much, because PSG knew basically only City and United could compete. This alone is why FFP is necessary. This is the mindset.
Who needs context when you can act like a chump?
Who needs a refresher in What FFP could do as opposed to what it does do, even allowing for his statement on Neymar being accurate.
Interesting theory from Delaney.
It bears no relation to reality, unfortunately - but then that shouldn't shock anyone familiar with his output.
Let's have a look at the current list of the top ten most expensive transfers in football - if Miguel's yarn stacks up, the top three names should read City, United and PSG, with the rest lagging way behind having been blown away by the outrageous extravagance of those three.
Erm.........wait a minute..........where are City?
OK - maybe I'm being too restrictive. The Top 20 then.
Erm........nope - still can't see City
Yep - you’d have to stretch your search out to the top 30 to incorporate our sole appearance in the list below - KDB at number 26.
Great theory Miguel - doesn't really bear up to even the most basic research though, does it?
But yeah - City are the problem here. Clearly our more measured, restrained, financially prudent competitors like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Juventus, Chelsea, Bayern, Inter and Arsenal (all of whom seem to able to compete perfectly well, and have easily eclipsed our highest transfer fee) need the extra support of FFP to thwart this cunning plan!
Perhaps - just maybe - this has got precisely nothing to do with City, and this story is just another tired example of Delaney's all too predictable agenda. Yet again.
The first rule of journalism - never let the facts get in the way of a good story, eh Miguel!
Pos. Player Clubs Year Fee
1 Neymar Barcelona - PSG 2017 €222m
2 Kylian Mbappe
Monaco - PSG 2017 €145m (+€35m)
3 Joao Felix Benfica - Atletico Madrid 2019 €126m
4 Philippe Coutinho Liverpool - Barcelona 2018 €120m (+€40m)
5 Antoine Griezmann Atletico Madrid - Barcelona 2019 €120m
6 Ousmane Dembele Borussia Dortmund - Barcelona 2017 €105m (+€45m)
7 Paul Pogba Juventus - Manchester United 2016 €105m
8 Gareth Bale
Tottenham - Real Madrid 2013 €100.8m
9 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid - Juventus 2018 €100m
9 Eden Hazard Chelsea - Real Madrid 2019 €100m (+€40m)
11 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United - Real Madrid 2009 €94m
12 Gonzalo Higuain
Napoli - Juventus 2016 €90m
13 Harry Maguire
Leicester City - Manchester United 2019 €87.1m
14 Neymar Santos - Barcelona 2013 €86.2m
15 Romelu Lukaku
Everton - Manchester United 2017 €84.8m
16 Virgil van Dijk
Southampton - Liverpool 2018 €84.5m
17 Luis Suarez Liverpool - Barcelona 2014 €82.3m
18 James Rodriguez Monaco - Real Madrid 2014 €80m
18 Kepa Arrizabalaga Athletic Bilbao - Chelsea 2018 €80m
18 Lucas Hernandez Atletico Madrid -
Bayern Munich 2019 €80m
18 Romelu Lukaku Manchester United -
Inter 2019 €80m
22 Nicolas Pepe
Lille -
Arsenal 2019 €79m
23 Alvaro Morata Real Madrid - Chelsea 2017 €78.9m
24 Zinedine Zidane Juventus - Real Madrid 2001 €77.5m
25 Matthijs de Ligt
Ajax - Juventus 2019 €75m (+€10.5m)
26 Kevin De Bruyne
Wolfsburg -
Manchester City 2015 €75m
27 Frenkie de Jong Ajax-Barcelona 2019 €75m
28 Angel Di Maria Real Madrid - Manchester United 2014 €74.6m
29 Alisson Becker
Roma - Liverpool 2018 €73m
30 Luka Jovic Frankfurt - Real Madrid 2019 €70m