Over the past week there’s been growing skepticism as to exactly how FC Barcelona signed Brazilian superstar Neymar from Santos during the summer transfer window.
Now the transfer of Neymar is being investigated by a Spanish court, and it’s already had huge implications for the Spanish giants.
Barcelona’s President, Sandro Rosell, has resigned.
The shock announcement comes as many were trying to figure out if Neymar was actually the most expensive signing in history, instead of Gareth Bale. Recent details emerging from Brazil suggest several different parties than originally stated were paid a chunk of the fee for Neymar’s services and now Rosell and his Barcleona board members have some serious explaining to do.
Rosell, 49, handed in his resignation at an emergency meeting of Barca’s directors earlier on Thursday and current vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu will take over.
(MORE: Is Neymar the world’s most expensive player?)
Neymar, 21, switched from Brazilian club Santos last summer, however leaked details of the transfer to Barcelona has raised plenty of concerns over who Barca actually paid and if the deal was legal.
Barcelona announced they had signed Neymar for $77m, but reports from Spanish newspaper El Mundo claimed that the actual fee paid to Santos and other parties was in excess of $129 million – making him the most expensive player in the world. Bale holds that title, for now, as Real Madrid paid around $124 million to Tottenham for the Welshman back in the summer.
The areas of concern in the leaked document came from fees being listed as ”scouting young talent at Santos” and “to help children in the favelas of Sao Paulo.” But in fact those payments where made directly to Neymar’s father, which Barcelona did not report and therefore meant they’d save on their taxes and would’ve avoided paying more on the transfer fee and wages.
Rosell has held his post as Barcelona President since 2010 when he replaced the famous Joan Laporta, who Rosell had previously served under as Vice-President.
But after these allegations were leaked out and now the Spanish authorities have got involved, Rosell’s sudden resignation as President at one of the biggest soccer teams in the world shows the Catalan club have a whole lot of explaining to do.
