How Neymar’s exit helped PSG keep Mbappe, spend €200m on transfers and manage FFP

Kylian Mbappe had to wait until the 50th minute before Luis Enrique called for him.

Paris Saint-Germain were struggling to unpick a stubborn Toulouse low block and they needed a spark. Just like against Lorient on the opening day of the season a week before, when the visitors from Brittany smuggled a goalless draw out of the Parc des Princes, Luis Enrique’s new-look PSG were too slow and too sideways, lacking potency in the final third.

So, early in the second half, on came the world’s best player.

It only took seconds before he was darting at the Toulouse back line, and eight minutes before he was fouled, in the box, by Rasmus Nicolaisen. It took a VAR delay for them to be awarded the penalty, but after 12 minutes on the pitch, Mbappe was back on the scoresheet.

In doing so, despite missing the first 140 minutes or so of the Luis Enrique era, Mbappe became its first competitive-game goalscorer.

It didn’t make the difference on the day; Toulouse would secure a 1-1 draw, courtesy of a penalty of their own on 87 minutes. But with PSG yet to score from open play this season, and still adapting to a new-look squad and a very difficult tactical system, their need for a difference-maker of Mbappe’s calibre was clear.

It is no wonder that Luis Enrique said before the match he was “delighted” to have the France captain back in the fold.

Mbappe’s return was made possible by talks last week between player and club, but fundamentally what changed was financial.

The 24-year-old forward’s turbulent pre-season, where he was thrown into the “loft” and put up for sale, stemmed from his decision to not extend his contract for a further year, potentially depriving PSG of a transfer fee if he departed as a free agent next summer. PSG’s response was on the one hand reflective of their post-galacticos “club above everyone” policy, but also motivated by a desire not to lose out monetarily.

The outlook changed last week, with PSG being satisfied enough by what they heard in those talks to reintegrate Mbappe and take him off the market. It is thought that one possibility is rather than agreeing to sign a contract extension he agreed to give up some of a loyalty bonus.

But it was not only that. At the same time, PSG were saying farewell to Neymar, who has joined Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal for a fee of £80million ($102m; €94m). In that one move, the French champions received a cash boost and removed the remaining four years of Neymar’s contract from the books — club sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity like all those in this piece due to the confidential nature of the topic, says the remainder of his contract was worth around €25m annually.