Criminal acts possibility in Neymar’s transfer from Santos to Barcelona

The 2013 move of Neymar Jr to Barcelona from Santos has caused a lot of legal troubles for the player as well as Barcelona and their management. It is alleged that Santos and Barcelona hid the transfer fee of Neymar Jr. Barcelona claimed to have bought the super star for a mere €17m when according to reports Real Madrid offered a transfer fee of €40m for the player.

According to Marca, the court asked the other clubs who were interested at the time to sign Neymar jr from Santos to reveal the transfer fee which they offered to Santos. Real Madrid were the only club who revealed the transfer fee. Chelsea and Manchester United did not reply to the court. The other club which was interested was Bayren Munich and they did not provide anything in writing to the court.

It is alleged that Barcelona and Santos agreed to transfer the money to Santos in other ways like a friendly match was to be arranged which was valued at €4.5m and it future signing of 3 players from Santos. According to Marca Neymar Jr, his father, Bartomeu and Rosell (Barcelona current and former presidents), and two of Santos directors will have to appear in court after they had their appeal rejected.

According to Judge De La Mata the estimated real costs of the Neymar Jr. transfer from Santos to Barcelona was €57.1 m according to Rosells claims. According to the claim of district attorney the transfer was of €94.8m.

The judge was quoted by El Pais as finding that in case Barcelona and Santos reached the agreement for a transfer fee larger than the amount revealed by the clubs, then using such mechanisms as friendly match and transfer of three other player without the knowledge of the claimant DIS can constitute crime.