Real Madrid offered 45 million for Neymar, Perez testified – ŠPORT.SK

today 13:30 | Brazilian football international Neymar appeared in court in Barcelona, ​​Spain, on Tuesday to testify about possible fraud in his transfer from FC Santos to FC Barcelona back in 2013. The trial, which began on Monday, aims to determine whether the Brazilian or others people did not commit fraud in the mentioned transfer. In addition to Neymar, his father and the former heads of the FC Barcelona and FC Santos clubs face accusations of unfair practices. All the defendants deny any wrongdoing. According to investigators, the said parties concealed the true cost of Neymar’s transfer in order not to pay the money to the private Brazilian company DIS, which owns 40 percent of the player’s playing rights and claims that the said parties owe it money. DIS acquired the rights to 40 percent of Neymar’s future transfer back in 2009, when it paid Neymar’s family 5 million Brazilian reals, the equivalent of two million euros. DIS lawyer Paulo Nasser said the contract was signed by Neymar’s family and DIS owners, brothers Delcir and Idi Sond, a day before Neymar made his Santos first team debut. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that DIS only received a share of the 17 million euros that Barcelona and Santos initially announced as a transfer fee between the clubs, while the actual cost was around 82 million euros. An investigating judge in Spain has already said that the real cost was at least 83.3 million euros. Part of the lawsuit is a request for compensation in the amount of 34 million euros and a fine of another 195 million euros for the Spanish authorities. The football player’s lawyers argue that the act is not a criminal offense in Brazil. Since the transaction took place in Brazil, according to the defenders, Spanish law does not allow for a punishment if the crime did not take place on the territory of both countries. The president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, also testified in this matter on Tuesday via teleconference. He said that he does not know the footballer personally, but Real tried to get him in 2013 and gave Santos an offer of 30 million euros and later 45 million euros. DIS has accused Neymar and his father of corruption and fraud and is seeking five years in prison and monetary compensation for them. The prosecutor’s office proposed a prison sentence of two years and a fine of 10 million euros for the footballer, his father and the agent in one person. According to the lawsuit, former FC Barcelona president Sandro Rosell should have made an additional payment of 40 million euros directly to Neymar and his family to secure his transfer to the Camp Nou. However, DIS received nothing from this amount. DIS’s lawyer compared the payment to a “bribe” that distorted the free market and damaged other clubs’ chances of signing Neymar. The said company also accuses FC Santos of concealing another 12 million euros that it received from Barcelona for Neymar. DIS claims the extra money was hidden in two allegedly fake contracts. In one for the preparatory match between FC Barcelona and Santos, in the other for the preferential right to the transfer of other Santos players to the Catalan team.