Published on 15.10.2022
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Football » The Brazilian, FC Barcelona and Santos FC will have to explain themselves.
Just over a month before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, Brazilian star Neymar is summoned to a Barcelona court on Monday. His trial for alleged wrongdoing in connection with his 2013 transfer from the Santos club to Barcelona is set to begin. The PSG striker, who will lead the “Seleção” from November 20 to conquer a sixth World Cup, is accused of corruption by the Public Ministry, which is claiming two years in prison and 10 million euros in fine against him. The trial is expected to last until the end of the month.
Among the eight other defendants are his parents, the former presidents of FC Barcelona Sandro Rosell, for whom the prosecution requested five years in prison, and Josep María Bartomeu, as well as a former manager of the Brazilian club Santos, Odilio Rodrigues Philo. The other defendants are three legal entities: FC Barcelona, Santos FC and the company founded by the player’s parents to manage his career.
Neymar, who said six years ago that his father was in charge of his affairs, is due to appear in court on Monday, although there is no official confirmation at this stage that he will make the trip. Especially since he must play tomorrow evening against Marseille in Ligue 1. According to a document published Friday by the court, he is expected to testify either on October 21 or on the 28th.
The second day, Tuesday, also promises to be a highlight of this extraordinary trial, since the prosecution has called to testify the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, who will intervene by videoconference to explain how the secret agreement reached in 2011 between Barça and the player weighed on the transfer window by preventing other clubs from struggling to recruit Neymar.
It’s society Brazilian investment company DIS, then holder of 40% of the economic rights of the player, which is at the origin of this lawsuit. DIS considered itself aggrieved in the transfer of the striker, because if Barcelona initially calculated its cost at 57.1 million euros (40 million for Neymar and his family and 17.1 for Santos FC), justice Spanish estimate that the recruitment of Neymar actually cost at least 83 million euros.
The company, which received 6.8 million euros of the 17.1 officially paid to the Brazilian club, claims that Barcelona, Neymar and then Santos FC teamed up to hide the real amount of the operation. “Neymar Junior, with the complicity of his parents, of Barcelona and its leaders at the time, and subsequently of Santos FC, harmed the legitimate economic interests of DIS and defrauded it,” Paulo Nasser said on Thursday. , lawyer for the Brazilian company, who is claiming the 35 million euros that she estimates to have lost in the case.
On their side, Neymar’s lawyers claim that their client has not committed any crime, the 40 million euros he received corresponding, according to them, to “a legal and usual transfer bonus on the football market”. ats