6 of the most craziest off-the-pitch incidents from this transfer window

#2 Barcelona and PSG announced simultaneous press-conference amid Neymar speculation

Rewind to the time when Pogba was still the 'ridiculously overpriced' showman of Manchester and the footballing world was yet to be appalled by £100m+deals. That is also the time when people still thought Barcelona had the clout to pull off barter deals in Europe.

The world fell into a fit of frenzy when PSG were reported to be growing incapable of containing the urge to trigger the perceivably untouchable release clause of Neymar. It was suggested that the Italian regista, Marco Verratti was heading in the opposite direction.

But as curiosity mounted and most cynics sniggered at the possibility, PSG and Barcelona went ahead and announced simultaneous press conferences. Europe buzzed with THIS IS IT talks and to be honest, you wouldn't put it past PSG.

However, to everyone's dismay, when Unai Emery and Cavani sat by the mic's, Neymar's name was strictly off-limits. The press conferences turned out to be pre-match media briefings. Fans around the globe who had woken up at ungodly hours to catch the biggest announcement of the summer live were simply put, miffed.

PSG did sign Neymar in the end though. (Capt. Obvious packs a punch).

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Souvik Roy Chowdhury