Neymar's contract extension: at PSG, everything revolves around the Brazilian

The news could almost serve as a birthday present.

It has something, in any case, to make the Parisian people smile.

Twenty-five years to the day after its historic victory in the Coupe des Coupes, PSG has again achieved a big blow.

This Saturday, he formalized the continuation of his union with Neymar (29) whose contract was extended from June 2022 to June 2025. A strong commitment and revealing of the ambitions of PSG, both the one who is considered one of the best players of the planet can help him to continue his progress.

The most decisive on the lawn

He came for this. Take PSG to a new level and lead it to success on the European scene. Four days after the elimination at Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final, the disappointment is still lingering, the Brazilian having failed to offer a second consecutive C1 final to the capital club. It is nevertheless clear that if PSG is now part of the European elite, has invited itself for the second time in a row to the last four of the event and is now considered a credible candidate for victory, Neymar is no stranger to it. Quite the contrary. Last year, he was one of the major players in the campaign, guiding his team against Dortmund in the 8th (first and second scorer), then leading them to the final at the Lisbon Final 8. If Kylian Mbappé stole the show,he was nevertheless one of the spearheads, especially in Munich, of the new historic campaign led by the club in the capital.

Winner of the Champions League in 2015 with Barcelona, ​​the Brazilian has not yet had all the influence expected of him. Blamed for his many absences (he missed almost half of the games for injury or suspension), he nevertheless posted record statistics. Entered the top 10 of the club's top scorers, winner of ten trophies since his arrival, he is, with 89 goals scored and 49 assists delivered in 115 games, decisive on average every 75 minutes. Just in front of Kylian Mbappé (80 ′). "Happy" in this Paris team which, he says, made him "grow as a player and as a human being", he claims to want to make history. To give himself every chance of succeeding, he would have issued a request before extending his lease:that its leaders recruit players capable of leading PSG to victory in the Champions League. A big bonus in the event of victory in the continental competition is also promised to him in order to compensate, in part, the fall in his annual salary which goes from 36 to 30 million euros.

The best asset to convince Mbappé

They arrived together in the heart of the summer of 2017, even if the signing of Neymar had preceded that of Kylian Mbappé by a few weeks.

One year from the initial end of their contract (June 2022), is the fate of the two men about to be linked again as the Brazilian has just extended his lease in Paris until June 2025?

It is not yet certain that the French striker imitates him but in any case this news can only contribute to it.

The two men have indeed forged an accomplice relationship on and off the field, praising on the occasion of their rare interviews, the links created with the other.

"With Ney, I learned a new football," said Mbappé in France Football last February.

Linked to PSG until 2022, Kylian Mbappé is waiting for sports guarantees to extend his contract. The extension of Neymar is a first. LP / Arnaud Journois

The extension of Neymar is therefore a strong signal of Parisian ambitions on condition that Mbappé does not wish in the future to be part of a collective that would grant him the privileged status that Neymar seems to enjoy at PSG. Also, while Neymar might not have that many potential drop points - except in the minds of a few dreamers on the Barcelona side - Kylian Mbappé doesn't. The French still have this luxury. He will go where he can win the Champions League and extend to Paris will only be the option chosen if the recruitment is up to his ambitions. Sitting in the stands of the Etihad Stadium, Mbappé could easily measure the deficiencies of the Parisian workforce on this subject while Neymar tried in vain to find the solution on his own.The extension of Neymar is therefore a necessary starting point but not necessarily sufficient for Bondy's child.

The marketing champion

If PSG has entered the very closed circle of clubs to sell more than a million jerseys per year, it is partly to the Brazilian international that it owes it.

Upon his arrival, in the heart of summer 2017, Neymar had only taken a few hours to panic the counters.

As if suddenly multiplying by 7 the attendance rate of the club's site was not enough to be convinced, his signing had also allowed to sell more than 12,000 jerseys and generate nearly a million in turnover in one day.

Far, far ahead of previous records held by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckham, Neymar represents, according to the latest known figures, about 40% of PSG jersey sales.

Or as much as Kylian Mbappé.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ene10ta Érre 🇧🇷 👻 neymarjr (@neymarjr)

If his real-false start to Barcelona in the summer of 2019 shook his popularity, the player is nonetheless the most “bankable” in the world of football. Today, with 38 million euros in earnings, he even exceeds in this area the giants Cristiano Ronaldo (33 million euros) and Lionel Messi (29.6 million euros). This is in any case what reveals a study by the international audit and accountancy firm KPMG, unveiled at the beginning of the year. Figures that can make your eye turn. But which are the greatest happiness of the brands that the Brazilian represents. Under contract with Nike since adolescence, Neymar left the American firm at the start of the season and became the face of Puma. If the duration of the contract is not known, the collaboration, estimated at more than 20 million euros per year, seems to be a hit,as evidenced by the stockouts that very quickly faced the King Platinium and Future Z models a few hours after their release.

The heavyweight of social networks

With his 150 million subscribers on Instagram, Neymar is by far the leading Parisian in this field.

The Brazilian has 100 million more subscribers than… Kylian Mbappé who has just celebrated the 50 million mark and… 115 million more than PSG (35)!

When the Eiffel Tower lights up in the colors of the club, it is therefore Neymar who lights up the rest of the world.

We are far from the proportions of Manchester City which has 23.7 million followers against 13.5 million "only" for the player who greatly contributed to send him to the final of the Champions League, the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne.

For Neymar, we must add 78.2 million subscribers on Facebook (43 for PSG) and 53.5 million on Twitter (9 for the club).

Despite everything, Neymar remains on Instagram behind Messi and his 203 million fans or Cristiano Ronaldo: 283 million! Nevertheless, the multiplication of his messages of love towards Paris offers the club of the capital an incomparable international influence and which only asks to increase at the rate of sporting successes, as a new qualification could have been. in the Champions League final. This Saturday, under the post of the photo of his contract extension, Neymar simply wrote: "the story continues", with Red and Blue hearts as the colors that will accompany him for another four years.