Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian superstar Neymar has moved into a five-storey, 1,000-square-metre (10,800 square foot) mansion in the posh western Paris suburb of Bougival, sources said yesterday. The town has been home to a host of celebrities in the past including French actor Gerard Depardieu and Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho, and is just a few kilometres from the PSG training centre in the nearby town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
“The move began last week,” an informed source said. Neymar had been camping in a luxury Paris hotel since his transfer to PSG last month. The property, an architect’s home built in the 1950s, is on a hillock and has 5,000 square metres of grounds and an indoor pool, a real estate professional said.
“It’s an exceptional property and very impressive. The house has never been on the market,” he said, adding that Neymar was renting it. At 25, Neymar became the world’s most expensive footballer when he was snapped up by PSG in a 222-million-euro ($264mn) move. Despite being under contract, Barcelona were powerless to stop the transfer as the French side met the buyout clause in Neymar’s contract.

Silva awaits green light for late Leicester move
Sporting Lisbon and Leicester City announced yesterday they had reached agreement for the transfer of Portugal international Adrien Silva to the Premier League club after the summer deadline expired. Portuguese giants Sporting said they were “awaiting confirmation from FIFA” that the deal could go through after Silva reportedly agreed to join Leicester two hours after the transfer window shut on Thursday.
A Leicester statement issued several hours later confirmed that international clearance from football’s global governing body was the only stumbling block, as they saw it, in Silva’s move to the Midlands club.
The 28-year-old midfielder, a member of his country’s Euro 2016-winning squad, was allowed to leave the Portugal team camp hours before Thursday’s World Cup qualifier victory against the Faroe Islands.
Leicester, the surprise 2016 Premier League champions, want to strengthen their midfield after selling Danny Drinkwater to title-holders Chelsea on Thursday.

Milan confirm 230mn euros spent in transfer splurge
AC Milan have confirmed that they splurged over 230mn euros in the transfer window which closed on Thursday in their bid to re-establish themselves as a major force in European football. The club’s chief executive Marco Fassone added that the club’s wage bill would be between 110mn and 120mn euros for the financial year.
Former Italy prime minister Silvio Berlusconi sold the club to a Chinese-led consortium in a 740 million-euro deal in April. After a series of mediocre mid-table finishes, the new owners are now hoping to rebuild the seven-times European champions and turn them into one of the continent’s top teams.
Signings have included Portuguese striker Andre Silva, Turkish midfielder and free-kick specialist Hakan Calhanoglu, Swiss leftback Ricardo Rodriguez, Argentine midfielder Lucas Biglia, Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci and Croatia forward Nikola Kalinic.

France hero Lemar happy staying put at Monaco
Monaco star Thomas Lemar insists he is more than happy to stay with the French champions after playing a starring role in his country’s thumping win over the Netherlands. “I am a Monaco player and I am very happy there. Now I am going to go and have a good season with my club, try to keep progressing and advancing in my career,” the 21-year-old winger, scorer of two goals in France’s 4-0 World Cup qualifying victory, said.  
Asked where he would be going once the current international get together was over, Lemar added that he would be Monaco bound. He had been strongly linked with a big-money move, with both Arsenal and Liverpool both credited with firm interest.