By luring Neymar out of a comfortable life at Barcelona and away from one of the world’s best attacking trios, Paris Saint-Germain changed football’s landscape. In one swift move, the French giant weakened a direct European rival and upended the sport’s establishment.

But the €222-million transfer doesn’t guarantee PSG success in the Champions League. Only two players in the world have the power to turn a club into a tournament favourite, and they are two of the best in history -Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Neymar’s arrival means many more things. It validates a league that’s failed to command international respect and opens up a world of commercial opportunities. That the Brazilian will improve results is obvious; it’s his marketing impact that stands to make PSG an attractive option for future stars and partnerships.

“Before Neymar, the value of the club was $1 billion,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told reporters Friday, according to the BBC. “Now it is $1.5 billion.”

Related – Neymar: Desire for ‘bigger challenge,’ not money, behind switch to PSG

No matter where Neymar plays in a front three with Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria, PSG now has the ammunition to frighten any defence. The Sao Paulo native’s goal-scoring record in the Champions League is also reassuring: Only four players since 2013-14 have scored more than Neymar’s 21 goals in the competition.

Whether PSG has the team to win every trophy around is another proposition altogether.

Questions have to be asked of the club’s defence. Captain Thiago Silva has shirked from the challenge on the grandest stages, and Marquinhos showed in the embarrassing 6-1 reverse to Barcelona that he’s prone to calamitous errors.

The full-back position is deep, but apart from 21-year-old Presnel Kimpembe, there’s no one else to relieve the Brazilian centre-half duo.

PSG also has the look of a top-heavy outfit. Jese, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Goncalo Guedes are outsiders on this team, and questions about Julian Draxler’s role are valid. The capital club did well to keep the tactically astute Marco Verratti this summer, especially as Barcelona circled above, but PSG still lacks a world-class midfield anchor like Real Madrid’s Casemiro or Sergio Busquets. A 34-year-old Thiago Motta doesn’t cut it, and Adrien Rabiot, who is more of a roamer, is not yet at his counterparts’ level.

The looming spectre of Financial Fair Play should also encourage PSG to sell some of its peripherals, but more importantly, it could prompt the departures of players who’d otherwise have a regular say on the pitch. Blaise Matuidi has been linked with a move abroad, and the fact that Verratti enlisted the restless Mino Raiola as his agent may mean a transfer is in the pipeline.

Even as PSG is right now, manager Unai Emery doesn’t have the best squad in the game.

Man for man, Madrid still boasts a better starting XI. Headlined by Cristiano Ronaldo, inspired by Luka Modric, and flanked by electrifying full-backs Marcelo and Dani Carvajal, Los Blancos have an authoritative figure in every position. They also have a manager in Zinedine Zidane who’s found success with different formations and maximised Ronaldo’s output.

Critics haven’t been kind to Emery, either. He faced a lashing in the aftermath of PSG’s collapse to Barcelona, with L’Equipe saying he was “too reserved” in the second leg of that historic Champions League turnaround. In Ligue 1, his tactical stubbornness cost PSG points. Many thought he wouldn’t last the season.

Even with some of football’s biggest names in recent years, PSG has stumbled at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League. It hasn’t reached the semis since 1995.

While the signing of a world-class player of Neymar’s stature is a statement of intent, the club is still a work in progress.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

CANTON, Ohio — Football season is back, with the Dallas Cowboys taking on the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame Game. Well, sort of.

While Cardinals coach Bruce Arians has already said his starters won’t play Thursday, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett has made no such declaration. But Garrett has said he and the Dallas coaches are treating this game like the intrasquad Blue-White scrimmage. So the best chance to see Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, Sean Lee and almost all of the other regulars will come in pregame warm-ups.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be anything worth watching.

“Young players,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “I’m really anxious to see how they account for themselves in game-like conditions.”

It’s not just the defensive rookies who will warrant watching. Wide receiver Noah Brown, another sixth-round pick, has turned some heads with plays early in camp. Since Brown played at Ohio State, he figures to hear some cheers when he takes the field.

Paris Saint-Germain splurged over double the previous world-record transfer fee to complete the signing of Neymar for €222 million on Thursday.

The release clause in the Brazilian’s binned Barcelona contract eclipsed the previous €105-million high Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba last summer, and promises to have La Liga and Neymar’s former employer clamouring to report PSG to UEFA for breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

The 25-year-old subsequently signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain, and ends a four-season tenure with Barcelona that saw him collect two La Liga titles, three Copa del Reys, and score in the Champions League triumph which concluded the 2014-15 campaign.

It’s been widely speculated that a move to the French capital will primarily assist Neymar’s pursuit of personal goals. In addition to an annual salary worth a reported €30 million after tax, and the €38-million bonus that the Santos product’s father and advisor, Neymar Sr., and others including agent Pini Zahavi will share, Neymar will undoubtedly be top dog at PSG. By escaping the shadow of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi at Barcelona, the forward’s view of the top individual prizes is hoped to be less obscured. He will be the centrepiece of the attack, rather than simply exploring channels down the left flank beside Luis Suarez in his No. 9 role, and the omnipresent Messi.

There’s also the coveted tag of being the most expensive player in the world. The wages and bonuses after the €222-million payment sees the potential cost of Neymar’s arrival and five-year contract reach €500 million.

More to come.

PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger has cited health concerns and family as potential reasons to leave prime years on the field and retire sooner rather than later.

Then, when addressing the media Wednesday, Roethlisberger offered a counterargument of sorts with this sneaky-significant quote:

“If those guys in the front play as well as they’ve been playing, getting sacked 17 times in a year, that might keep me around a little longer,” Roethlisberger said about his offensive line.

The Steelers’ line is a catalyst for a late-30s Roethlisberger push beyond obvious, “Football 101” reasons. Roethlisberger is basically a sixth lineman.

Every day, he’s with Alejandro Villanueva, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert. When the team finishes walk-throughs at St. Vincent College, those six are coming up the hill together.

Roethlisberger had one Steeler at his summer camp: Pouncey.

By saying this, Roethlisberger is informally placing his career in lockstep with the current nucleus up front. And all five of those linemen are set to play at least two more years together. All of the starting linemen, save for Foster, are under contract until at least 2019, according to ESPN’s Roster Management System. Foster becomes a free agent after the 2018 season.

The Steelers spent high draft picks on Pouncey, DeCastro and Gilbert, then developed undrafted players Foster and Villanueva into productive starters. Roethlisberger calls the line “probably the most important part of this team,” and the money reflects that. The starting five comprises $36.1 million of the team’s 2017 salary cap. And the production lies in the franchise-record-setting yardage pace set by Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell in recent years.