Brazilian star Neymar will face trial next October over alleged irregularities in his move to Spanish football club Barcelona in 2013, a court source said on Wednesday.
Neymar and former Barcelona presidents Sandro Russell and Josep Maria Bartomeu will face trial on charges of “corruption” in a deal to sign current French club striker Paris Saint-Germain from his former Brazilian club Santos in 2013. The trial will take place from 17 to 31 October.
The case was opened on the basis of a complaint filed by the Brazilian group DIS, which owned part of the rights to the player, after they considered themselves affected by the transfer to the Catalan club.
The investigation into the case began in January 2014 after inconsistencies were found in some of the documents requested by the authorities. Barcelona initially agreed to pay 57.1 million euros (40 million to the player’s family and 17.1 million to his former club Santos) in exchange for his services, but according to the Spanish judiciary, the deal was worth at least 83 million. Euro. million
The DIS group, which received 6 million of the amount paid to the Brazilian club, considered that Barcelona and Neymar agreed to hide the true cost of this deal.
Prosecutors demanded a two-year prison sentence for Neymar. The player stated before the court that he only came to Spain to play football and that he trusted his father, his agent.
In the summer of 2017, Neymar moved from Barcelona to Saint Germain in a €222 million deal, making him the most expensive player in the world.
