Back in May I wrote that the transfer fee that Barcelona paid for Neymar was severely underreported and now El Mundo has came out and claimed that the total deal is worth €95m, not the €57m that Barcelona have claimed. If that is the case, they Neymar is the most expensive player in history, not Gareth Bale.
The Spanish newspaper says that they have had access to the actual contracts, which are in the hands of a Spanish judicial investigation.
The documents, says the publication, detail
“commissions of millions of euros for Neymar’s family” which up to now have remained “concealed”.
El Mundo reports that the player’s family was paid €8.5 million for a variety of purposes and with no actual obligation to provide anything in exchange.
The newspaper explains:
“Two million euros went to the player’s father to scout ‘new promising players at Santos’, the club from which Neymar was signed by Barcelona. Four million more for the supposed task of attracting ‘advertising contracts with Brazilian companies’ and a further 2.5 for Neymar’s family, theoretically to go on social purposes, specifically to help ‘the children in the favelas of Sao Paulo’.”
The paper also claims that the documents show the existence of a clause in the player’s deal
“through which he will earn a minimum of 54 million euros gross throughout the duration of his contract,”
regardless of whether he or Barcelona win the necessary trophies needed to trigger the bonuses in the contract. According to El Mundo, Neymar’s father will earn
“a 5% commission on the 54 million euros quoted. In total, 2.6 million euros.”
So why would Barcelona conceal the true cost of the transfer? One reason is tax. There is VAT and income tax considerations here and that could be an issue that lands Neymar and Barcelona in del water.
Two is that part of Neymar’s rights were owned by an investment consortium in Brazil who were entailed to a part of the transfer fee. By lowering the transfer fee, they received less money while Neymar and his father pocketed more.
Third is that Barcelona have a fragile relationship with their best player at the moment. How would Lionel Messi had take the news that Barca had smashed the transfer record to sign Neymar? A world record deal makes Neyamr the face of the club not Messi and that would not have gone over well in the Argentinian camp.
