Santos To Take Neymar’s Father To Court

Santos To Take Neymar’s Father To Court

Santos president Odilio Rodrigues has said his club intend to take Neymar Sr. to court to claim a share of a €40m payment he received as part of his son’s move to Barcelona last summer, ESPN reports.

The transfer is currently under investigation by a Madrid court over the possible “diversion” of money, but Neymar Sr. defended his role this week, saying that all the money he received had been accounted for.

Neymar Sr. said he received €40m in the form of a “penalty clause” payment, which was apparently owed to the Neymar family as a result of the Brazil international moving to the Camp Nou 12 months earlier than had been previously agreed. According to figures released by Barcelona on Friday, another €11.2m was paid for the marketing, scouting and development work he was hired to do

Santos, meanwhile, received a €17.1m payment for the transfer fee, which the club had to share with third-party investors DIS Esporte and Teisa.

At a news conference in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, Rodrigues said he was not fully happy with the explanations the Brazilian club had been given.

“Yesterday, we asked them to send us all the documents relevant to the negotiation,” Rodrigues said. “Neymar’s father called me and said he would come and see me. He explained the same as had been said in the press, and he gave me some details. I asked him for the documents and he told me that he could not due to the confidentiality clause. He could speak about it, but not hand them over. Santos is going to file a complaint and expect a response.”

Rodrigues said he had been “surprised and indignant” and also “suspicious” when he heard that Barcelona had paid €57m to sign Neymar, as he had previously thought the full fee was just the €17.1m that Santos had received.

“Although he had a contract until 2014, Neymar was not happy and wanted to leave in 2013,” Rodrigues added. “Then he called us, we showed him the two offers we had, and he opted for Barcelona. There the agreement was closed.

“The first proposal was €16m. We said no and later they offered €17.1m, plus two more if Neymar was among the three candidates for the Ballon d’Or while at Barca. We received the money, we paid the percentages to DIS and Teisa, and we were surprised some time later when the Barca vice-president [Josep Maria Bartomeu, now club president] said he had cost €57m. That provoked surprise and indignation. A difference of €40m makes everyone suspicious.”