For the last few weeks Paris has been gripped by stories of superstar players wanting to leave this place. For an hour at the Parc des Princes it was easy to sympathise, as a Paris Saint-Germain team with Neymar and Lionel Messi installed as a walking-football front two produced a horribly constipated performance en route to a 1-0 defeat by Bayern Munich that threatens to deadhead their season before the end of February.
The emir of Qatar was in Paris to watch this last-16 first leg, hotfooting it from Rome, and perhaps, who knows, with half an eye on opportunities in the north-west of England. There has been some unease in Paris about the interest in Manchester United. The Elon Musk blather, the Saudi chat may all sound a little far-fetched. But the emir, well, he definitely does like buying stuff.
