Neymar: Paris St-Germain’s new signing said he left Barcelona for a new challenge

BBC Radio 5 live sports news correspondent Richard Conway

Rêvons Plus Grand!”, PSG’s motto, is hard to avoid at their stadium, Parc de Princes.

Translated? “Dream Bigger!”.

Signing Neymar, and obliterating the transfer world record, is certainly living up to that self-imposed ideal.

The club’s owners, Qatari Sports Investment (QSI), are the upstarts within the European game and are determined to disrupt the old order.

QSI is an arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund – so PSG’s ambitions are backed by the enormous natural gas wealth of the Gulf state.

Qatar is locked in a bitter dispute with its Arab neighbours right now – so this transfer has a distinct political overtone as it seeks to show it will not be diminished or cowed by an on-going trade blockade and a diplomatic war of words.

Having secured the World Cup in 2022, PSG is seen in Doha as one of the ways through which the state can achieve its ambitions.

And in Neymar they now have a player it hopes can bridge the gap between Champions League wannabes and serial winners.

Progress towards that target has not been easy so far. Millions spent in transfer fees has delivered plenty of domestic silverware. It is not the success the club truly craves.

A spate of recent quarter-final defeats and last season’s second-leg capitulation to Barcelona in the round of 16 does not reflect the high ambitions of those in charge.

The talk in Paris is of building a dynasty, not merely creating fleeting moments of hope and glory.

As for Uefa’s financial fair play? The regulations have certainly tempered PSG’s elaborate spending in recent seasons but Neymar’s arrival represents a serious challenge to the club in this respect alongside Uefa’s credibility.

The value of this deal – fee and wages – must pass the necessary tests. There’s confidence within PSG’s boardroom that it will not be a significant issue but their accountants will perhaps be as busy as the first team squad in coming months.

In the end, this is an era-defining transfer on a par – in terms of its significance – with Maradona to Napoli, Shearer to Newcastle, Zidane, Ronaldo and Bale to Real Madrid or Pogba to Manchester United.

Those moves all had sporting ambition at their heart. This transfer, for now, is perceived more as a triumph of political and financial considerations.

But this is football. And ultimately this deal will not be judged in the governmental salons of Doha nor on a spreadsheet. Instead, success must be delivered through PSG capturing the club game’s greatest trophy.

Brazilian journalist Fernando Duarte: “This is simply the biggest ever deal in football history.

“We’re talking about a player who has the potential to be one of the best in the world. He has the marketing potential, he’s a natural, unlike Lionel Messi for example who always looks awkward on camera.

“Why should Brad Pitt get $20m for a movie and a football player, who is not going to be playing in his 40s like many sporting stars, shouldn’t?

“One year before the World Cup, he’s going to a club where everything will be resting on his shoulders. If PSG win the Champions League, it will be Neymar’s plaudits. If PSG fail, it will be Neymar’s fault.”