Football’s biggest ever spending spree shows no sign of slowing.
Since the 2011/12 season, PSG have spent roughly £270m on incoming transfers. On Tuesday, the Ligue 1 giants announced the capture of Napoli’s Edinson Cavani for £55m, who becomes the French outfit’s new record signing.
Here’s the complete list of players bought since Qatar Sport Investment, a joint venture of the Qatari government and Qatari Olympic Committee, took over the club:
Edinson Cavani – £55m – Napoli
Javier Pastore – £37m – Palermo
Thiago Silva – £36m – AC Milan
Lucas Moura- £35m – Sao Paulo
Ezequiel Lavezzi – £22m – Napoli
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – £18m – AC Milan
Marco Verratti – £10m – Pescara
Thiago Motta – £10m – Inter Milan
Kevin Gameiro – £9.6m – Lorient
Jeremy Menez – £7m – Roma
Blaise Matuide – £7m – St Etienne
Mohamed Sissoko – £6m – Juventus
Gregory van der Wiel – £5m – Ajax
Alex – £4m – Chelsea
Salvatore Sirigu – £3.4m – Palermo
Maxwell – £3m – Barcelona
Milan Bisevac – £2.8m – Valenciennes
Diego Lugano – £2.5m – Fenerbahce
Analysis:
PSG buy most of their big money players from Italy, indicating that star players in the Premier League and La Liga are showing little intention of moving into a less renowned division, even with the potential financial rewards.
Of players who cost over £20m, PSG have purchased very well. Ibrahimovic has scored goals for fun, Lavezzi has just about lived up to a £22m price tag, Thiago Silva has developed into the world’s best centre-back, and Lucas Moura is showing superb potential. Only Pastore seems drastically overpriced, while time will tell if Cavani is worth the cash.
Only two players have been purchased from the Premier League and Spain. Maxwell and Alex were both out of favour at their respective clubs Barcelona and Chelsea.
The French club have no intention on spending money on unproven teenagers. Marco Verratti is the only player on this list under the age of 20 when he arrived at the club. Lucas Moura had already turned 20.
