The worry for all managers, club owners and CEOs over the soon-to-be-completed Neymar deal is the snowball effect the world record transfer will have. In an already inflated transfer market, all the eye-watering finances involved in the Neymar from Barcelona to PSG deal does is make it all the more difficult for clubs to attain their primary targets.
Even a mediocre player now costs over £20 million, and to get clubs to even consider selling a future star or a current world-class player, you need to get to prices well in excess of £100 million.
That makes the £89 million Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba last summer seem quite small, with Jose Mourinho, at the time, saying something similar.
"When we paid that amount for Paul, I said that he was not expensive," Mourinho said. "Expensive are the ones that get into a certain level without [having] a certain quality.
"I think Neymar is going to happen [to be] the same (as Pogba)."
With PSG set to pay €222 million (£199 million) for Neymar, all transfer prices in an already crazy market are only going to go further up, and that is what worries Mourinho.
"I don't think he's (Neymar) expensive for £200 million, I don't think he's expensive, I think he's expensive the fact that now you'll have more players of £100 million, more players of £80 million, more players of £60 million, and I think that's the problem.
"Neymar is one of the best players in the world, commercially he's very strong, Paris Saint-Germain have thought about it.
"Obviously Neymar isn't the problem, the problem is the consequences after Neymar."
Manchester United have had to pay over the odds for a few players already this season – Nemanja Matic might prove to be a great buy, but £40-£50 million does seem a lot – and that is going to continue to be the trend, with Inter Milan demanding £50 million for Ivan Perisic, a fee United are not, at the moment, ready to meet, but might have to if they want to sign the winger.
