Brazilian superstar Neymar left Barcelona this summer and moved to Paris Saint-Germain for 222 million euros.
After such a high-profile transfer, there was no doubt that this sum would be considered the biggest transfer in football history for a long time. However, this could change very quickly.
Football expert Raffaele Poli confirmed that this sum could be surpassed quite quickly. The analyst states that 21-year-old Dele Alli could be the next person to break the record for the most expensive footballer.
R. Poli is the head of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory in Switzerland. Even before Neymar left Catalonia, they stated that Neymar's market value was 210.7 million euros. And soon after, he was bought for a little more than 11 million of the set amount.
Meanwhile, D. Alli and his teammate Harry Kane are highly rated by CIES, and R. Poli says that such players can break Neymar's record if they perform well during the season and decide it's time for a change.
"Potentially, this record could be broken as early as next year. A player like D. Alli: if he performs well in the local league with Tottenham, if they have a good season in the Champions League, if he performs well in the World Cup with England next year, then I wouldn't be surprised if he is bought for more than Neymar was," R. Poli said.
"Inflation wouldn't be the main factor. It all depends on how he performs, and Neymar's transfer was not heavily influenced by inflation during the transfer window."
The latest CIES calculations show D. Alli's market value at 182.6 million euros - slightly below Lionel Messi's value of 184 million euros. CIES uses various algorithms to calculate players' values, which are refined after each transfer window.
"There were many other transfers like Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, or Benjamin Mendy, whose transfers were much more influenced by inflation than Neymar's," added the expert.
