Neymar, Barca legal battle goes to court after talks collapse

BARCELONA: Lawyers for Brazilian footballer Neymar and Spanish champions Barcelona failed Friday in their bid to avert a multi-million-dollar court battle over a tangled contact dispute.

“It is going to court,” Barcelona lawyer Josep Vives told journalists outside the court after the closed-door reconciliation talks had collapsed.

A court official told journalists that the hearing which is open to the public would begin

later on Friday.

The case revolves around a decision by Neymar, the world’s most expensive footballer, to quit Barcelona in 2017 and join Paris Saint-germain in a stunning coup for the French club.

The move angered the Spanish giants who filed a complaint for breach of contract against the 27-year-old superstar who had pledged loyalty to Barcelona by signing a new deal just one year earlier.

Neymar arrived in Barce

lona on Thursday ahead of the hearing which was set for 10:00 am (0800 GMT) Friday but lawyers confined later he was not at court. Neymar’s shock transfer to PSG for a world record 222 million euros came less than a year after he signed a contract that would have kept him at the Spanish club until 2021. As well as filing a lawsuit, Barcelona refused to pay him 26 million euros, which were part of his contract renewal bonus. The young Brazilian quickly hit back with a lawsuit demanding payment of the bonus in full.

Although the full sum of the bonus has never been clear, Neymar received an initial payout and was to have received the rest in instalments over the course of his new contract. The Spanish club is demanding he return the part of the loyalty bonus already received as well as 8.5 million euros plus interest in compensation for breach of contract. Neymar promptly filed a countersuit demanding payment of the 26 million euros with interest.