So it's official then; football has finally entered the FIFA era and we're all living through Nasser Al Khelaifi's very own Career Mode.Not content with taking Sergio Ramos from Real Madrid, gazumping Barcelona for Gini Wijnaldum and shearing Inter and AC Milan of Achraf Hakimi and Gigi Donnarumma, Paris Saint-Germain have managed to pull off the most incredible signing of a generation this week.It will be a long time before we see a story as stunning and as nauseatingly predictable as the one that has taken Lionel Messi from Barcelona to Paris this week.Just days after a tear-strewn Messi had said his final goodbyes live on Barca's YouTube channel, arguably the greatest player of all time was whisked off into a private jet to complete the shocking, yet-still-grimly-inevitable switch to Parc des Princes.Only three clubs in a football world still adjusting to the post-COVID financial reality could afford Messi - even on a 'free' transfer - and the other two have been busy plundering close to £200m elsewhere on a couple of their own additions. More on that shortly. READ MORE: Pep Guardiola makes FSG and Liverpool claimSo it was no surprise to see the six-time Ballon d'Or winner pitch up in the French capital once the true scale of the shambles Barcelona find themselves in had been revealed.For Messi's part, he has nothing to answer for. The desire for another Champions League still burns bright within the Argentina forward and he should not feel compelled to hold himself up to any greater ideal like offering to play for free at the Nou Camp simply because of the mess his employers have made.But quite how the Parisiens are able to perform the financial acrobatics needed to add the most handsomely remunerated footballer in the game, in Messi, to an already grotesquely bloated wage bill is one that only those on the inside of the oil-rich French side will know."We have always respected Financial Fair Play," Al Khelaifi urged without irony this week. "We checked with our financial people and knew that we could sign him. "What the media need to focus on is not just the negative but also the positives that he will bring."Let's ignore the elephant in the room, there's a shiny new toy ready to be removed from its box.A first Champions League crown is now an absolute must for a team that didn't even win their domestic title last time out.Elsewhere, Man City were busy shattering the British transfer record for Jack Grealish to the truly eye-watering tune of £100m, while continuing to make it known that Harry Kane is the next object of their affections.European champions Chelsea then paid £97.5m for a player they let leave for less than £30m seven years ago as Romelu Lukaku re-joined the club he apparently supported from Belgium as a young boy.So much for Jurgen Klopp's prediction in May that the window would be a relatively subdued one, then."I hear a lot about big-money moves," Klopp said at the time. "I don't know if Kylian Mbappe is going or not, whether Erling Haaland or Jadon Sancho will, these kinds of players."I dont see that happening this summer because the football world is still not in the same place it was before."Sign up for daily Liverpool newsGet all the latest Liverpool breaking news, team news, transfer rumours, injury updates plus analysis of what's next for the Reds.You'll also get the latest transfer talk and analysis every day for FREE! Sign up here - it only takes a few seconds!The Liverpool boss, of course, is correct in his assertion that the football world - or rather 99.9 per cent of it - is having to re-adjust accordingly to the financial impact of having no supporters inside stadiums across the planet since March 2020.But for the likes of Chelsea, PSG and Man City, even when the sun has not shone, they have made hay, plundering big sums into the market in an effort to get a long-term leg-up on their rivals whose finances have to be governed more stringently.Liverpool, naturally, fit into that category, with Klopp admitting on Friday: "We cannot compare with the other clubs, they obviously don't have any limits. We have limits."By now, though, it should be no surprise to see Liverpool 'failing to compete' with their richer rivals. Even only off the pitch, at least.The understanding inside the club has long been acknowledged that the Reds must box clever to win the heavyweight titles.And that was before the losses of what one Anfield source told the ECHO this week was running into the "hundreds of millions".Whisper it quietly, though, perhaps the perpetual despair over a lack of transfers can be placed firmly on the backburner for today?It's been far too long since supporters of any particular faith have been allowed inside grounds across the country.The sight and sound of 40,000 at Anfield for the friendlies with Athletic Club and Osasuna will surely have whet the appetite for those who derive their enjoyment in football beyond the moving and the shaking of the transfer market.After so long away, how could it possibly not stir the soul?Read MoreRelated ArticlesRead MoreRelated ArticlesEven the most hardened and removed of curmudgeons would have a job dismissing the return of pre-pandemic football.Anfield's wait will go on, but for the few thousand making the trip to Carrow Road this Saturday, hope springs eternal.Liverpool are now an Andy Robertson return away from ridding themselves of the injury crisis that has blighted them for much of the past 12 months.Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson are all fighting fit once more as Klopp weighs up his considerable options for the visit to Norfolk.Optimism, for once, should not be in short supply, regardless of how contorted modern football may look from the outside right now.