Uefa warns PSG 'tell us how you're going to pay for Neymar' as Brazilian informs Barcelona he's leaving

Uefa will demand to know how Paris Saint-Germain intend to finance their world-record £198 million transfer deal for Barcelona’s Brazilian superstar Neymar, with European football’s governing body reiterating its stance that financial fair play rules will be enforced.

On a dramatic day, Barcelona announced on Wednesday that Neymar, 25, had told them of his intention to leave and that in response had said he could only do so on payment of the £198 million (€222m) buy-out clause included in the new contract he signed last year.

It is anticipated that the Qatari-owned PSG will pay it in full although the structure of the deal, expected to be €450m in total, will have to pass Uefa’s financial fair play (FFP) rules.

Neymar is expected to earn around €55m a year before tax meaning that the total deal, spread over the course of a five-year contract, could cost €90m annually - almost a quarter of PSG’s current annual revenue of €389.6m.

In a statement to Telegraph Sport, Uefa reiterated its stance that FFP would be enforced, saying the organisation is “exceptionally serious” that clubs are not permitted to make losses in excess of €30 million over three years.

When the deal goes through it will more than double the current world-record transfer fee, the £89m paid by Manchester United to Juventus for Paul Pogba last summer, and it will make Neymar the world’s best-paid player.

His buy-out clause was intended as insurance that he would not leave Barcelona after overtures from PSG before he signed his last deal, although the Spanish club never anticipated that anyone would meet it.

The turning of the tables on Barca, ranked second in the world for turnover last season in the Deloitte Money League, has been met with anger in Spain where the president of La Liga, Javier Tebas, accused PSG of state-backed “financial doping”. 

He said to Spanish newspaper AS that there would be a formal La Liga complaint to Uefa and the European Union about “the teams that receive economic investment from countries that gift players to their fans at the cost of taking them from other clubs.”