Spanish court confirms Barca’s Neymar deal

A SPANISH court on Tuesday ratified a deal that leaves Barcelona w it h a € 5.5 mil l ion ($ 6.2 million) f ine but avoiding trial on ta x evasion charges over Ney mar’s contested 2013 tra nsfer.

The agreement, reached in July, lifts any threat of Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell facing possible criminal proceedings that could lead to jail terms.

The deal between the club and Spanish prosecutors was confirmed on December 14 after an appeal against it by another former president, Joan Laporta, was rejected.

Neymar’s arrival from Brazil’s Santos has been a huge success for the Spanish champions on the pitch but a judicial nightmare off it.

The 24-year-old Brazilian striker is being investigated in Brazil and Spain over his move to La Liga.

Barcelona originally published the transfer figure as € 57.1 million, with € 40 million of that given to the player’s family.

But Spanish authorities believe the true transfer figure was at least € 83 million.

In November, Spanish prosecutors recommended that the Brazil striker be handed a two-year jail sentence and a fine of € 10 million for alleged corrupt practices.

The case initiated with a complaint from Brazilian investment company DIS, which owned 40 percent of Neymar’s sporting rights at the time of his transfer.

DIS received just € 6.8 million, 40 percent of the fee paid to Santos, with the company claiming it was cheated of its real share because part of the transfer fee was concealed by Barcelona, Santos and the Neymar family.

Sentences of two years or less are habitually suspended for first time offenders in Spain.

Meanwhile, Barcelona presid e n t Jo s e p Ma r i a B a r - tomeu indicateddicated the Spanish championshampions are prepared pared to make Lionel nel Messi the world’s ’s highest-paid player to keep the Argentinee star at the club. b.

“L e o Messi is t h e b e s t [ p l a y - er] in thee history of football ootball and we want him to stay with us,” Bartomeu said on Tuesday. “There will be negotiations . . . butbu even if I don’t want to talk a about figures, if he’s the best player in the world it make makes sense that he is so from all points of view.” A After extending the contr tracts of Neymar and Luis S Suarez until 2021, Barca are desperate to keep hold of the five-time World Player of the Year, whose deal expires in 2018. “He’s at home here . . . I believe Leo is fully convinced he’s in the b best place he can be,” Bartome tomeu said.