Predecessors of Neymar & Co.
Alan Shearer showed what Neymar became in 2017 with his €222 million move from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain with his transfer in the summer of 1996. The English striker had gone from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United for the equivalent of €18 million – and then became the most expensive footballer in the world. The now 51-year-old only held the transfer record for a year, but the memories of it are still present.
“I went home to Newcastle United, the team I supported as a kid, and they bought me for a world-record fee,” Shearer wrote in a post for the portal “The Athletic”. “I distinctly remember Tim Sherwood, our captain, asked me for how much and I told him it was £15m. He stared at me for a while and then said, ‘My God. So no pressure!’ I couldn’t do anything but laugh,” revealed the ex-striker, who had scored the most goals (five) in his own country at the 1996 European Championships, but failed with the “Three Lions” in the semifinals against the German team.
From Rossi to Neymar: transfer record history since the 70s
“The really funny thing is that I never felt that pressure. Not once. Not at all,” Shearer said. In the ranking of the most expensive purchases made by the “Magpies”, the 63-time national player is in twelfth place today, level with former Hanoverian loanee Allan Saint-Maximin (25). Shearer scored 206 times in 405 games for Newcastle before retiring in 2006, making him the club’s undisputed all-time leading goalscorer.
Alan Shearer: High price tag not a burden – “It makes me extremely proud”
“You often hear or read about players who are overwhelmed by their price tag after a move and struggle to live up to it, but even though it felt like a ridiculous, obscene amount of money a club paid to me (or to anyone ) outputs, it was not a load. It made me feel extremely proud, excited, special and overjoyed. To tell you the truth, I absolutely loved it,” Shearer revealed.
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