Paris St-Germain have signed Brazil forward Neymar for a world record fee of 222m euros (£200m) from Barcelona.
The deal for the 25-year-old smashes the previous record set when Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United from Juventus for £89m in August 2016.
He will earn 45m euros (£40.7m) a year – 865,000 euros (£782,000) a week – before tax from the initial five-year deal, a total outlay of £400m.
Neymar said he has joined “one of the most ambitious clubs in Europe”.
“Paris St-Germain’s ambition attracted me to the club, along with the passion and the energy this brings,” he added.
“I feel ready to take the challenge. From today, I will do everything I can to help my new team-mates.”
The French side have arranged a news conference for 12:30 BST on Friday. Neymar will then be introduced to fans on Saturday at PSG’s first game of the season against Amiens at Parc des Princes.
PSG reached the last eight of the Champions League last season – knocked out by a Neymar-inspired Barcelona – and were beaten to the French title by Monaco.
How it happened
After weeks of speculation, Neymar arrived for training with Barcelona on Wednesday with his father and representative, and told the Spanish club he wanted to leave.
He was then given permission by Barca manager Ernesto Valverde to leave to “sort out his future”.
In Spain, a release clause can only be activated by a player buying himself out of his contract.
But when Neymar’s lawyers attempted to make the deposit on Thursday, La Liga officials rejected the payment. Further statements followed from all sides as the negotiations continued.
La Liga believes French club PSG are violating Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and Barcelona previously said they would report PSG to European football’s governing body Uefa for a FFP breach.
PSG believes La Liga was acting unlawfully, while the French league (LFP) said it was “surprised” and urged its Spanish counterpart to “abide by the Fifa rules”.
Unable to get La Liga to take the payment, Neymar’s representatives paid the 222m euros (£200m) fee at Barca’s offices instead.
The deal for the 25-year-old smashes the previous record set when Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United from Juventus for £89m in August 2016.
He will earn 45m euros (£40.7m) a year – 865,000 euros (£782,000) a week – before tax from the initial five-year deal, a total outlay of £400m.
Neymar said he has joined “one of the most ambitious clubs in Europe”.
“I feel ready to take the challenge. From today, I will do everything I can to help my new team-mates.”
The French side have arranged a news conference for 12:30 BST on Friday. Neymar will then be introduced to fans on Saturday at PSG’s first game of the season against Amiens at Parc des Princes.
PSG reached the last eight of the Champions League last season – knocked out by a Neymar-inspired Barcelona – and were beaten to the French title by Monaco.
How it happened
After weeks of speculation, Neymar arrived for training with Barcelona on Wednesday with his father and representative, and told the Spanish club he wanted to leave.
He was then given permission by Barca manager Ernesto Valverde to leave to “sort out his future”.
In Spain, a release clause can only be activated by a player buying himself out of his contract.
But when Neymar’s lawyers attempted to make the deposit on Thursday, La Liga officials rejected the payment. Further statements followed from all sides as the negotiations continued.
La Liga believes French club PSG are violating Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules and Barcelona previously said they would report PSG to European football’s governing body Uefa for a FFP breach.
PSG believes La Liga was acting unlawfully, while the French league (LFP) said it was “surprised” and urged its Spanish counterpart to “abide by the Fifa rules”.
Unable to get La Liga to take the payment, Neymar’s representatives paid the 222m euros (£200m) fee at Barca’s offices instead.
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