Who is PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelafi, Qatari businessman behind Neymar transfer?

The world is going gaga over Neymar's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, who are expected to confirm the signing in the next few days. PSG have got the world talking with the money that is going to be spent on signing the player from Barcelona.

Eever since last month or so when reports began circulating about PSG's interest on meeting Neymar's release clause of £198m, it had become the most talked about thing. Barcelona were not willing to sell, but PSG were desperate to sign. Even the likes of Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez tried their best to convince the player to stay, but they failed. 

Read: Neymar transfer: Why PSG and not Manchester United?

With this transfer,  Neymar will become the highest paid player in the world.  Neymar will earn around €30 million a year after tax. 

Manchester United paid £89m to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus last season, which had made him the most expensive player, and now Neymar will shatter that record. No one in their wildest of dreams would have thought that about such a huge figure (£198m) could be splashed for a player, let alone the quality.

The forward is expected to be the face of PSG, and with the Brazilian's inclusion, Neymar will make PSG even more strong in Ligue 1 and the club can challenge for the Champions League as well.

One wonders whether this is the new way ahead for world football? This season has witnessed some mega deals in the transfer market, but nothing compares this one, which is the mother of all signings. Such things can only be thought of by rich clubs, who have mega money, and PSG is definitely one of them with the club being owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QXI).

The Qatar Sports Investments is in fact a shareholding organization in Doha, headed by chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who is the CEO of the rich club as well. The 43-year-old man, without a doubt, played a huge role in signing Neymar as the transfers have to be sanctioned by the businessman.

So, who is Nasser Al-Khelaifi?

PSG became one of the richest clubs in world football after Qatar Sports Investments took over the ownership of the club in 2011.

People, who were aware about Nasser Al-Khelaifi, might not have been surprised about the group's interest in acquiring the football team as he has always been a sports lover. Forget the passion; he was himself a professional tennis player in the ATP circuit at one point of time.

With top business groups and high-profile men buying clubs around the world, the Qatari also decided to dive into it, and has bagged headlines due to mega transfers ever since the purchase.

This transfer of Neymar is of course the biggest in history, but he has given sanction to some other mega buys including Edinson Cavani (reportedly 63 million), David Luiz (50 million) and Angel Di Maria (44 million) among others. Though such amounts look decent at present scenario, they were astonishing figures during the time. 

Maybe it was due to such kind of signings and power play, L'Equipe named Al-Khelaifi, as 'the most powerful man in French football' in 2016.

Some other facts

Born : Doha, Qatar

BOD: 12 November 1973

Resides in France 

Al-Khelaifi was a member of the Qatar Davis Cup team.

The former tennis player is a graduate of University of Qatar, and is said to be close to the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, head of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.

His team PSG are the sixth richest club in the world, as reported earlier in the year.