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French press review 3 August 2017

The papers are all about Brazilian football superstar Neymar who is expected in Paris today to sign a world record 222 million euro move from Barcelona to Paris Saint Germain. The 25 year-old has annual salary of 30 million euros waiting for him after he inks his contract.

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It will be "the contract of the century", beams Le Parisien obviously delighted that PSG managed to outfox the Spanish giants, who appeared determined to block Neymar's move to Paris.

Le Parisien has a list of incredible things you can buy with Neymar's contract: namely five Rafale fighter jets worth 80 million euros a piece, 250,000 years of the French “Navigo” transport pass for Paris and the greater Ile de France region, more than 25000 square meters of real estate property in Paris, 55 million Big Macs and 3.3 million tickets for Celine Dion's concert in Paris last month.

Libération says it is astonishing to realise that the world had been holding its breath for two full weeks simply because of the Brazilian footballer.

According to the newspaper, Neymar's transfer saga and the media buzz that followed him from China to the Middle East, back to Barcelona and now to Paris has proven that football can be a dish eaten without matches.

Libé satirises about the return to reality soon, specifically when he will leave his golden contract at home to go play on muddy pitches in places like Angers with bad referees, and against aggressive defensemen who will have no respect for his celestial status.

According to the Catholic daily La Croix, coughing out 222 million euros in order to join the exclusive group of the world's greatest football clubs will not dissipate the malaise felt when ordinary people look at Neymar’s contract.

L'Union/L'Ardennais says it is simply hilarious when you compare the phenomenal amounts of money with the spectacle of kicking a football around a pitch.

For Le Journal de la Haute-Marne even if Neymar remains one of the most talented players on the planet, it is not the footballer reporting for duty at the gates of the Parc des Princes stadium that matters the most to PSG's Qatari proprietors but a marketing product, that will earn them hundreds of millions more.

But for la Charente Libre it will cost Paris Saint Germain more than the 223 million euros coughed out for Neymar's contract to erase their humiliating 6-1 drubbing by Barcelona in the quarter finals of the Champions League just five months ago.

Le Républicain Lorrain brings a sarcastic note to the Neymar euphoria, suggesting that the French ought to give thanks to their Qatari friends who on top of bringing Neymar to PSG are "great investors".

The paper argues that they deserve a pat on the back for buying 24 French-built Rafale fighter jets for a whooping 6.7 billion euros, organising “well-paid conferences for retired French politicians and for their restless shopping for prized castles around France.

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