Newsmaker of the year: Why 2017 belonged to Neymar
When Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) decided to broker a world-record €222-million move for Neymar, it did so with more than sporting success in mind. Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi saw an opportunity to project his native Qatar to the world by signing football's next superstar for Paris Saint-Germain.
There was no fear of repercussion. Al-Khelaifi famously told reporters to go "have a coffee" when queried about PSG's compliance with Financial Fair Play. He knew that Neymar would sell PSG's matches on his marquee network, beIN Sports, and that the Brazilian would become the face of Qatar's push into football. Most importantly, Al-Khelaifi knew that the club stood to make more money than it spent to sign the player.
Related - Timeline: How PSG pulled off the most expensive transfer in history
"Before Neymar, PSG were worth €1 billion. With Neymar, we are now worth €1.5 billion," the 42-year-old said.
On his first day, PSG sold more than 10,000 jerseys with Neymar's name on the back. His presentation drew 85 million viewers on Brazilian channel Globo TV, and his debut match against EA Guingamp was broadcast in 183 countries. He has single-handedly changed the perception of the much-maligned Ligue 1, long considered the worst of the top five European leagues.
Neymar made headlines of an economic, political, and sporting nature. Forbes, The Economist, and CNN all covered the mega-money transfer from different perspectives, interviewing anyone from professors to former players and financial analysts.
The signing had massive ramifications beyond the pitch. Amid allegations of state-sponsored terrorism, experts have argued that Qatar used Neymar to reassert power and launder its public image. He has reportedly agreed to become an ambassador for Qatar's controversial World Cup, and could offer a distraction from the gulf nation's serial human rights abuses.
"Qatar has not capitulated, it is fighting back, and the Neymar signing is part of that," Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at the University of Salford, told Bloomberg. "It's a charm offensive, a soft power stance. There's something of international diplomacy in all of this."
Even before joining PSG, the 25-year-old found himself on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Few athletes were as visible as Neymar in 2017, and his performances on the pitch were unaffected by his extra-curricular activities. He has scored 17 goals and added another 12 assists in 20 matches across all competitions, with PSG now the outright favourite to win Ligue 1 and among the top contenders in the Champions League.
On a personal level, Neymar managed to escape the shadows of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and put himself in a better position to show off his individual dribbling skills. He removed himself from a more comfortable supporting role at Barcelona to embrace the risks and rewards of being the protagonist.
Not that Neymar wasn't prepared. Whenever Messi was out of Barcelona's lineup, the Santos product took up the mantle. He scored 20 goals and set up another 10 in the 22 matches he played without the Argentine, according to stats compiled by The Telegraph's Alistair Tweedale.
In other words, he earned the right to be the main attraction in 2017.