‘ney’ in the room
In addition to Neymar and his parents, the former presidents of Barça, Rosell and Bartomeu and a former leader of Santos, Odilio Rodrigues Filhoare also being judged in this process.
The other defendants are three legal entities: FC Barcelona, Santos FC and the company founded by the player’s parents to manage his career.
During the oral trial, which brought Neymar back to Barcelona a month before the World Cup in Qatar, the Brazilian star declared that he only signed the documents indicated by his father, and he did not do anything illegal.
“I sign what he tells me“, the Paris Saint-Germain striker explained calmly last week in court, before being authorized to return to France to rejoin his team.
In the room, “Ney” assured not to remember if he participated in the negotiations with Barça in 2011, one of the central points of the case.
His dream as a child, he said, was always to play for the Catalans and that is why he prioritized his offer over that of other clubs such as Real Madrid.
“Neymar never participates in negotiations,” confirmed his father later, who revealed that the white club had sent them proposals since 2009.
During the oral trial -which also included the testimony of heavyweights in the market, such as the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez-, all the defendants defended that they operated according to the rules of the world of football.
– Dance of figures –
Despite the fact that Barça initially estimated the signing of Neymar at 57.1 million euros (40 million for his family and 17.1 for Santos), the Spanish justice estimated that it reached at least 83 million.
But, for DIS, the Catalan club, Neymar and later Santos allied themselves to hide the real amount of the operation through other contracts from which they were left out.
The company received 6.8 million of the 17.1 officially admitted to the Brazilian clubso now they claim the 35 they estimate they have lost.
This process known as “Neymar 2” is the last chapter of the extensive judicial novel derived from the transfer of the striker to Barcelona in 2013, which included a fine of 5.5 million euros for fiscal irregularities for the Catalan club, in addition to several lawsuits crossed after the abrupt departure of the player to PSG in 2017.
Finally, the entity and the 10 of the “Seleçao” reached an agreement “in a friendly way” last year to close all pending legal proceedings.