New PSG Qatari Owners On Spending Spree To Lure Top Players

Ligue 1 team Paris St. Germain has "flooded the transfer market with petrodollars" and is "not a French club like the others anymore," according to LEMONDE.fr. The Parisian club's management team has recruited AC Milan's Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibramhimovic. In addition to the large transfer fees, several lucrative salaries have also been mentioned. PSG's starting 11 for the upcoming season should represent a total salary of about  €59M ($72.5M). Ibrahimovic will make €16.5M ($20.3M) net of taxes and Silva €9M ($11.1M) (LEMONDE.fr, 7/17). In Paris, LEFIGARO's David Reyrat reported that PSG's Qatari owners "have already spent" €173.5M ($213M) in transfer fees since their arrival last year. That sum does not include the team's recent signings of Marco Verratti and Ibrahimovic, which will take that number past €200M ($245.6M). With the future tax of President François Hollande, the French government can "rub its hands together." Professional Football League (LFP) President Frederic Thiriez said of the money the French government receives from football, "Football and Footballers give to the state in taxes and social charges €600M ($726.8M)" (LEFIGARO, 7/17).