Paris Saint-Germain’s €222-million transaction for Neymar triggered a stern response from international footballers’ union FIFPro, which called on the European Commission to revamp the “unjustified and illegal” transfer system.

Having already lodged a legal complaint to the European Union in 2015, FIFPro again demanded action on Friday from authorities.

General secretary Theo van Seggelen – who has lobbied for the abolition of transfer fees, restrictions on squad sizes, and caps on payments to agents – denounced the disproportion of wealth in the game.

“The world-record transfer of Brazilian Neymar from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain is the latest example of how football is ever more the domain of a select group of rich, mostly European-based clubs,” Seggelen said in a statement.

Related – Football’s cash obsession: How to fix the inflated transfer system

“Given much of football’s transfer activity occurs within Europe, where significant transfer fees are exchanged between clubs, FIFPro is asking the European Commission to launch a thorough investigation of the transfer rules it approved in 2001 and which are now in need of urgent review.”

Only 14.4 percent of the 14,591 international transfers in 2016 fetched a transfer fee, according to a FIFA press release, emphasising just how exclusive the transfer market is.

Neymar’s transfer came at more than double the cost of the previous world-record outlay for a footballer, set by Manchester United last year when it signed Paul Pogba for €105 million.

Booming television revenue and inflated sponsorship agreements have armed the biggest clubs with the financial power to spend more and more, but it’s a reality FIFPro hopes to end.

“FIFPro claims an inflated and distorted market, with escalating transfer fees at the heart of it, has helped to destroy competitive balance,” Seggelen added. “The transfer rules governed by FIFA are anti-competitive, unjustified, and illegal.”

RENTON, Wash. — Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett came off the PUP list Friday and is on track to be ready for the start of the regular season.

“I’m pretty much ready to go,” Lockett said. “If we had a game tomorrow, I’d play in it.”

Lockett suffered fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg in December. He underwent surgery and spent Christmas and New Year’s in the hospital.

Lockett spent the entire offseason in Seattle rehabbing and said he’s been running for the last three months. He didn’t participate in all aspects of Friday’s practice but has no doubts about being ready for Week 1.

“One of the things that I thought about was when I was a kid, I had a dog,” Lockett said. “When you train him, you’ve got to keep him in a little cage. I felt like I was stuck in a cage for eight months after I broke my leg. So as soon as they let me go today, I didn’t know what to do. So I was just running around, having fun, being a little kid again.”

Lockett caught 41 balls for 597 yards in 15 games last season, but he was playing at less than 100 percent for much of the year because of a knee injury suffered early in the season. He’s expected to compete for a starting job in 2017.

By luring Neymar out of a comfortable life at Barcelona and away from one of the world’s best attacking trios, Paris Saint-Germain changed football’s landscape. In one swift move, the French giant weakened a direct European rival and upended the sport’s establishment.

But the €222-million transfer doesn’t guarantee PSG success in the Champions League. Only two players in the world have the power to turn a club into a tournament favourite, and they are two of the best in history -Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Neymar’s arrival means many more things. It validates a league that’s failed to command international respect and opens up a world of commercial opportunities. That the Brazilian will improve results is obvious; it’s his marketing impact that stands to make PSG an attractive option for future stars and partnerships.

“Before Neymar, the value of the club was $1 billion,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told reporters Friday, according to the BBC. “Now it is $1.5 billion.”

Related – Neymar: Desire for ‘bigger challenge,’ not money, behind switch to PSG

No matter where Neymar plays in a front three with Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria, PSG now has the ammunition to frighten any defence. The Sao Paulo native’s goal-scoring record in the Champions League is also reassuring: Only four players since 2013-14 have scored more than Neymar’s 21 goals in the competition.

Whether PSG has the team to win every trophy around is another proposition altogether.

Questions have to be asked of the club’s defence. Captain Thiago Silva has shirked from the challenge on the grandest stages, and Marquinhos showed in the embarrassing 6-1 reverse to Barcelona that he’s prone to calamitous errors.

The full-back position is deep, but apart from 21-year-old Presnel Kimpembe, there’s no one else to relieve the Brazilian centre-half duo.

PSG also has the look of a top-heavy outfit. Jese, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Goncalo Guedes are outsiders on this team, and questions about Julian Draxler’s role are valid. The capital club did well to keep the tactically astute Marco Verratti this summer, especially as Barcelona circled above, but PSG still lacks a world-class midfield anchor like Real Madrid’s Casemiro or Sergio Busquets. A 34-year-old Thiago Motta doesn’t cut it, and Adrien Rabiot, who is more of a roamer, is not yet at his counterparts’ level.

The looming spectre of Financial Fair Play should also encourage PSG to sell some of its peripherals, but more importantly, it could prompt the departures of players who’d otherwise have a regular say on the pitch. Blaise Matuidi has been linked with a move abroad, and the fact that Verratti enlisted the restless Mino Raiola as his agent may mean a transfer is in the pipeline.

Even as PSG is right now, manager Unai Emery doesn’t have the best squad in the game.

Man for man, Madrid still boasts a better starting XI. Headlined by Cristiano Ronaldo, inspired by Luka Modric, and flanked by electrifying full-backs Marcelo and Dani Carvajal, Los Blancos have an authoritative figure in every position. They also have a manager in Zinedine Zidane who’s found success with different formations and maximised Ronaldo’s output.

Critics haven’t been kind to Emery, either. He faced a lashing in the aftermath of PSG’s collapse to Barcelona, with L’Equipe saying he was “too reserved” in the second leg of that historic Champions League turnaround. In Ligue 1, his tactical stubbornness cost PSG points. Many thought he wouldn’t last the season.

Even with some of football’s biggest names in recent years, PSG has stumbled at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League. It hasn’t reached the semis since 1995.

While the signing of a world-class player of Neymar’s stature is a statement of intent, the club is still a work in progress.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

CANTON, Ohio — Football season is back, with the Dallas Cowboys taking on the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame Game. Well, sort of.

While Cardinals coach Bruce Arians has already said his starters won’t play Thursday, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett has made no such declaration. But Garrett has said he and the Dallas coaches are treating this game like the intrasquad Blue-White scrimmage. So the best chance to see Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, Sean Lee and almost all of the other regulars will come in pregame warm-ups.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be anything worth watching.

“Young players,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “I’m really anxious to see how they account for themselves in game-like conditions.”

It’s not just the defensive rookies who will warrant watching. Wide receiver Noah Brown, another sixth-round pick, has turned some heads with plays early in camp. Since Brown played at Ohio State, he figures to hear some cheers when he takes the field.