Nobody wants to buy the world’s top soccer players because they’re overpaid, too old, and could be a gigantic waste of money

Photo by Reuters

Two soccer stars are struggling to find new clubs despite their availability on the summer transfer market.
PSG is reportedly demanding $200 million for Neymar, who is paid $785,000 every week.
Real Madrid is failing to find a suitable buyer for Gareth Bale, who is valued at $89 million and paid $425,000 per week.
Nobody seems to want to buy some of the best players on the planet, and it could be because they may turn out to be a gigantic waste of money.
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Neymar and Gareth Bale are available in the summer transfer market but their clubs are struggling to actually sell them, and it may be because buying just one of them would be a gigantic waste of money.

The biggest soccer clubs on the planet consider multiple factors before they even complete player transactions.

Business Insider was told two years ago by Mike Rigg, the transfer market guru who helped usher in a new era of spending at Manchester City, that once a player acquisition department has been consolidated and a database of knowledge on athletes has been built, a shortlist of players would be streamlined to help directors and managers identify potential assets.

To do that, multiple questions will be asked regarding position suitability, on-pitch character, and affordability. Questions like: Can we afford the transfer fee, and can we afford the wages?

Age, injury records, and performance-level will also be considered, together with whether that on-pitch character will positively or negatively affect the dynamic in the camp. Off-pitch character will also be researched.

Another important factor in an era of skyrocketting transfer fees, is whether an individual player will represent value for money.

Considering this, it becomes clear why Neymar and Bale, two of the world’s most talented soccer players, find themselves stuck at their respective clubs with no way out.

Less than two years ago, clubs all over Europe would have been lining up to sign either player, but they are instead now turning them down.

Just look at the situation Neymar finds himself in

Photo by LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images

Once a brilliant Barça forward with the world at his feet, Neymar landed a monumental move to PSG in 2017, breaking the world transfer fee record in the process, earning $785,000 every week, to boot.

But he doesn’t seem to want to play there anymore, failing to even report to pre-season training on time, eventually turning up one week late, last month, MARCA reports.

Problems on and off the field mean it is unlikely the 27-year-old will find himself a new club by the time the transfer window closes on September 2.

The Brazilian hit the headlines in April when he lashed out at a fan who reportedly told him to "learn how to play" after a shock French Cup defeat to Rennes. He was slapped with a three match ban in French soccer, and stripped of the captaincy for his beloved Brazil national team.

The next month, he threw his Brazil teammate Weverton, a 20-year-old, to the ground because the youngster embarrassed him during a training session, nutmegging him on video.

In June, UEFA upheld a decision to ban Neymar for three matches in the UEFA Champions League for "insulting match officials" during PSG’s defeat to Manchester United, earlier in the year.

That same month, a 26-year-old woman accused him of sexual assault, an allegation he denies.

There is little to convince clubs he would be worth the $200 million PSG is asking for him. Neymar’s former club Barcelona ruled out a trade after failing to raise the funds to bring him back to Camp Nou.

And the La Liga president Javier Tebas said he would rather not have the troublesome Brazilian return to La Liga anyway. "I’d prefer that Neymar didn’t return to Barca," Tebas said last month. "His behavior isn’t good for the competition."

Even Manchester United turned down the chance to sign Neymar on a temporary basis — a loan deal.

But Neymar’s not alone

REUTERS/Sergio Perez

Bale is also turning into an outcast, unwanted at his current club Real Madrid, with few, if any, buyers on the horizon.

The Welshman’s injury record during his time at Real Madrid has been horrendous. He has been limited to just 79 La Liga starts across the last four seasons having suffered multiple knocks, the worst — an ankle problem — sidelined him for 17 matches in the 2016-2017 season.

In total, he’s missed more than 70 matches for Madrid through injury since joining from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 — that’s almost two league campaigns.

He is unwanted at Real Madrid. Manager Zinedine Zidane has made that clear, telling the press earlier in the summer that "the club is working on his departure."

But there are also few clubs willing to take a risk on an injury prone 30-year-old with an $89 million pricetag with wage expectations that could mirror the $425,000 per week he makes in Madrid.

Bale seemed close to a way out of Madrid last week as Jiangsu Suning was ready to pay the Wales star an incredible $1.2 million per week to lure him to the Chinese Super League.

But Madrid club president Florentino Perez pulled the plug at the last minute, meaning Bale’s likely to spend the season warming the benches at the Santiago Bernabeu yet again.

What does all this mean?

We are yet to fully realize what this all means, really. Perhaps, after decades of escalating and inflationary transfer fee expenditure, we have finally reached a ceiling. Clubs around Europe are deciding that even some of the top and most well-known players in the world are not worth the exorbitant fees quoted.

Or, perhaps it is all mere gamesmanship, and as the time runs down on the transfer market clock, there will be one club who rescues Neymar from his PSG plight and Bale from his Real hell.

Only time will tell.

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