Ligue 1: From winning Champions League to sponsorship deals, how PSG can avoid breaking FFP rules

Paris: After spending €380 million ($450.66m) to secure the services of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain’s next task is to make sure they don’t break UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. European football’s governing body opened an investigation into PSG’s lavish spending on Friday, having previously sanctioned the club in 2014 for FFP violations. [caption id=“attachment_3896545” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Paris Saint-Germain’s record signing Neymar Jr. Reuters[/caption] PSG, who made Neymar and Mbappe the two most expensive players of all-time, responded by saying they expect a “rise of 20 to 40 percent” in revenues from “international income, sponsoring, merchandising, ticket sales, TV rights, sporting results and summer and winter tours”. The club need to increase their estimated annual turnover of €520 million by somewhere between 105 and 210 million to comply with FFP, and there are plenty of ways they can do it. January clear-out FFP rules dictate that a club cannot make an annual loss of more than €30 million, and an obvious way for PSG to avoid this will be to ship off some dead wood from their squad in the January transfer window. After their summer acquisitions, there are some highly-valued players who coach Unai Emery will probably find surplus to requirements. The website Transfermarkt values PSG’s squad at more than €520 million, but as the signings of Neymar and Mbappe show, that is almost certainly an underestimate. Forwards Javier Pastore, signed in 2011 for €42m, Lucas Moura (€40m) and Angel Di Maria (€63m) are all unlikely to have a regular starting place. Neymar and Mbappe, 18, are both all but certain to start the big games alongside Edinson Cavani, and with Julian Draxler next in line, PSG could easily recoup some cash by selling Pastore, Lucas and Di Maria. Bigger sponsorship deals One of the biggest reasons for shelling out a world record €222 million on Neymar was because of the Brazilian’s marketability. PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi said after the 25-year-old’s move that he would be worth €450 million “soon”. PSG’s current deals with kit manufacturer Nike and shirt sponsor Emirates airlines (an estimated annual €40m) are far from the dizzying heights enjoyed by the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Barcelona receive at least €150 million annually from Nike for the privilege of making their jerseys, while English giants Manchester United are paid €67 million a year by Chevrolet in a shirt-sponsorship deal. The scope is clearly there for PSG to find a far more financially-attractive deal after Neymar’s signing, which could potentially wipe out any FFP fears in one swoop. Success on the pitch Qatar Sports Investments have always wanted to win the Champions League since taking over PSG, and one way to avoid FFP sanctions would be to achieve just that. With TV rights for Europe’s premier competition at an all-time high, reaching the final for the first time could pay out more than €100 million. Retaking the Ligue 1 title from Monaco would also help, while the French top flight’s international TV rights will have gone up in value after the Neymar signing. The French league’s (LFP) international rights were sold for just €80 million annually for 2018-2024, compared to €700m for La Liga and €1 billion for the Premier League. “At a domestic level, the LFP is even more likely to reach or exceed an annual figure of €1 billion,” according to French economist Jean-Pascal Gayant. PSG have plenty of cards to play, and if the 145 million-euro fee for Mbappe (before add-ons) is judged to come under expenditure for next season after his season-long loan deal from Monaco, then they might not have too much to worry about anyway.