Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore does not expect to see Premier League clubs pulling off transfers to match Neymar’s record-breaking move to Paris Saint-Germain, he said on Wednesday.
“I can’t see anything like that (in the Premier League),” Scudamore told BBC Radio 5 Live. “When the previous record was £89 million (for Paul Pogba), to suddenly go to £200 million, that’s something else going on there.”
PSG paid Barcelona €222 million to sign Neymar last week, obliterating the record of €105 million set by Manchester United’s purchase of Paul Pogba from Juventus last year. Premier League spending in the current transfer window has rocketed past £1 billion, but Scudamore says PSG’s Qatari owners are in a different league.
“That’s the owners of Paris Saint-Germain and the Qataris deciding that they want to make a statement and they’ve made a huge statement,” he said. “But I don’t think we’re going to see that replicated and, in some ways, I’m glad it’s not the Premier League holding that particular record.”