【经济学人】2.22亿欧又如何？内马尔的身价并没有那么“高”

2.22亿欧又如何？内马尔的身价并没有那么“高”

译者：武 守晗

校对：刘   璠

策划：倪凌晖

Why the world’s best footballers are cheaper than they seem

为什么这座星球上最好球员的身价并没有看起来的那么高

本文选自 The Economist | 取经号原创翻译

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As a share of clubs’ revenues the highest transfer fees have been fairly constant for years

纵然转会费屡屡刷新纪录，但占球队收入的比例年年保持稳定。

FOR football clubs, August is often the costliest month, when they make vast bids for each other’s players. This year has been particularly lavish . On August 3rd Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), a French team, signed Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, a Brazilian forward, from Barcelona for €222m ($264m), more than double the previous record price for a footballer.

对足球俱乐部而言，八月往往是花费最大的一个月。在这一个月中，各俱乐部之间竞相从其他球队购买球员。今年的转会市场更是火爆。8月3日，法甲劲旅巴黎圣日耳曼队（PSG）从宣布巴西前锋内马尔·达·席尔瓦·儒尼奥尔（Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior）从巴萨转会，转会费高达2.22亿欧元（2.64亿美元），直接将转会费记录提高到此前的两倍多。

lavish /ˈlævɪʃ / adj. large in amount, or impressive, and usually costing a lot of money 大量的；给人印象深刻的；耗资巨大的

With three weeks of the transfer “window” left, teams in Europe’s “big five” leagues—the top divisions in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France—have paid €3.2bn, just short of the record of €3.4bn set last year. The €179m splurged by Manchester City, an English club, on defenders outstrip s 47 countries’ defence budgets. Arsène Wenger, a veteran manager of Arsenal, a London team, and an economics graduate, describes the modern transfer market as “beyond calculation and beyond rationality”.

离转会窗口关闭还有三周，欧洲五大联赛（英超、西甲、德甲、意甲、法甲）的球队已经豪掷32亿欧元，仅次于去年创下纪录的34亿欧元。英超球队曼城队已经在后防线砸下1.79亿欧元，这一数字超过了47个国家的国防预算。伦敦阿森纳队资深主帅阿尔赛纳·温格（Arsène Wenger）（同时拥有经济学学位）将如今的转会市场描述为“难以估算，且毫无理性”。

outstrip /ˌaʊtˈstrɪp / verb ( -pp- ) [VN] to become larger, more important, etc. than sb/ sth 比…大（或重要等）；超过；胜过

（尽管内马尔的转会费创纪录翻一番，但若比较转会费占球队收入的比重只能位列第三，排在第一位的是现皇马主帅齐玄宗。）

Neymar, as he is known, will cost PSG’s owners, a branch of Qatar’s sovereign-wealth fund, about €500m over five years. In the betting markets, his arrival has boosted PSG’s implied chances of winning the Champions League, Europe’s most coveted club competition—but only from around 5.5% to about 9%. And prize money and ticket sales alone struggle to generate enough revenue to recoup such an outlay.

巴黎圣日耳曼队的所有者是卡塔尔主权财富基金（Qatar’s sovereign-wealth fund）的一个分支机构。在这次转会中卡塔尔人总花费高达5亿欧元（转会费加内马尔的五年合同工资等），只是因为内马尔实在是太出名了。在博彩市场上，内马尔的到来意味着巴黎圣日耳曼队夺得欧洲冠军联赛（欧洲最令人垂涎的俱乐部比赛）的概率将会增加，但只是从5.5％左右提高到了9％上下。并且单靠奖金和门票销售难以弥补这样的庞大的支出。

recoup /rɪˈku:p / verb [VN] to get back an amount of money that you have spent or lost 收回（成本）；弥补（亏损）

That does not make Neymar a bad investment. The goals he scores may matter less than the gloss he lends to the club’s brand and the sponsors he will lure. He earns more from endorsement s than any footballer except Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Some 59% of PSG’s revenue of €520m last year was commercial (ie, other than ticket sales and broadcasting fees), more than any other club in the big five leagues. Neymar has more followers on Instagram, a social network, than does Nike, his main sponsor and the provider of PSG’s kit, for which privilege it pays €24m a year. Neymar’s popularity will help PSG when this deal is renegotiated. Nike has already agreed to pay Barcelona €155m a season from 2018.

这并不意味着引进内马尔是一个糟糕的投资。他对俱乐部品牌的发扬以及他将会带来的赞助商可能比他的进球重要重要。除了克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多（Cristiano Ronaldo）和莱昂·梅西（Lionel Messi），他从广告中获得的收入比任何足球运动员都多。去年巴黎圣日耳曼的收入约为5.2亿欧元，约59％来自商业用途（即除售票和转播费之外），超过了五大联盟中的其他俱乐部。内马尔在Instagram（不存在的网站）的粉丝比耐克（他的主要赞助商和巴黎圣日耳曼运动装备的提供商）还要多，为此耐克每年支付2400万欧元。当重新签订合同的时候，内马尔的受欢迎程度将帮助大巴黎拿到满意的价位。耐克已同意与巴萨合作自2018年起，每个赛季支付给巴萨1.55亿欧元赞助金。

endorsement / ɪnˈdɔ:smənt/ noun a statement made in an advertisement, usually by sb famous or important, saying that they use and like a particular product （通常为名人在广告中对某一产品的）宣传，吹嘘

PSG’s owners are confident of breaking even , though they could afford a loss. Qatar has been spending €420m a week preparing for the 2022 World Cup, and the signing of Neymar is a message that the otherwise embattled country remains strong and rich. The danger is to PSG, since under “financial fair play” rules, teams are punished if they fail to limit their losses. In 2014 the club was fined for violating these. Another failure to balance the books could mean a ban from the Champions League.

巴黎圣日耳曼的所有者有信心平衡收支，尽管他们可以承受损失。卡塔尔每周花费4.2亿欧元筹备2022年世界杯，签下内马尔更是表明这个在其他方面陷入困境的国家依然强大且富有。倒是巴黎圣日耳曼会有一定风险，因为在“财务公平法案”（financial fair play）规则下，如果大巴黎不能控制亏损，那么他们将受到欧足联的处罚。2014年，巴黎圣日耳曼俱乐部因违反这些规定被罚款。如果再度违反规定，大巴黎可能被禁止参加欧冠。

break even attain a level at which there is neither gain nor loss, as in business, gambling, or a competitive sport 收支平衡

Such spending caps irk billionaire owners, but they have helped prevent the inflation of a transfer-fee bubble. The rapid rise is a result of European football’s expanding fan base. In the English Premier League, football’s richest, average net spending on players per club has stayed roughly constant, hovering at around 15% of revenue since the 1990s, according to the 21st Club, a football consultancy.

这样的支出上限令卡塔尔的富豪们十分恼火，但这些规定已经对防止转会费泡沫的膨胀产生了作用。转会费突飞猛进是欧洲足球球迷扩张的结果。足球咨询公司第21个俱乐部（21st Club）表示，在英超联赛（当今最富有的职业联赛）中，每支球队在球员转会方面的平均净支出大致保持不变，自20世纪90年代以来就一直徘徊在球队收入的15％左右。