La Liga stalls Neymar move
Madrid, Aug. 3: Spain’s La Liga refused to accept the payment of Neymar’s 222 million euro ($260 million) buyout clause on Thursday, delaying the Brazilian’s world record move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain.
However, legal experts believe La Liga won’t be able to prevent PSG pushing the transfer through.
“We can confirm that the legal representatives of the player attended La Liga to pay the clause and this has been rejected,” a La Liga spokesperson said.
Neymar had been expected to complete his move to the French giants by the weekend after Barcelona announced the 25-year-old striker’s decision to leave on Wednesday on the condition his buyout clause was met.
La Liga president Javier Tebas has been an outspoken critic of PSG’s move to snatch one of the Spanish league’s biggest stars.
Tebas believes the astronomical sums being spent by the French giants, including a reported 30 million euro salary after tax for Neymar, makes it impossible for them to comply with financial fair play regulations (FFP).
“La Liga is an entity that defends the interests of the clubs and right now it is defending Barcelona,” said Marcos Galera, a lawyer and founding member of Spanish sports law specialists Agaz.
“But if you follow literally Spanish legislation, they had an indemnity clause agreed .... and the rules are that if you have a clause agreed, you have to abide by it.”
One option open to PSG and Neymar is for the money to be deposited with a notary and to seek an international transfer certificate through Fifa.
Clubs can be sanctioned by Uefa for making a loss of more than 30 million euros over a three-year period. However, Uefa insist that the deal wouldn’t automatically breach FFP.
FRENCH LEAGUE URGES LA LIGA TO ACCEPT PAYMENT
The French league (LFP) on Thursday stepped into the Neymar transfer affair, calling on their Spanish counterparts not to block the Brazilian’s move to Paris SaintGermain. The LFP issued a strongly worded statement hours after La Liga refused to accept a cheque presented by Neymar’s advisors to pay his buyout clause with Barcelona.
The French body urged the Spanish league “to stick to Fifa’s rules and its
responsibilities” to allow the 25-year-old’s world record switch to the French capital.
“The LFP is astonished and does not understand La Liga’s refusal to simply accept payment of the release clause,” a statement read. It added that the LFP has put its legal team at PSG’s disposal to resolve the issue “in order that Neymar’s contract can be resolved with the minimum delay.