Svengali father behind world-record transfer
On joining Paris Saint-Germain for the world-record fee of € 222m, Neymar dismissed the importance of the finances and talked up “the project”. They have powerful ambition in common. For PSG this means winning the Champions League; for Neymar it means becoming the world’s number-one player.
Having extended his contract with Barcelona to 2022 less than a year ago, the Brazilian’s insistence on quitting Spain suggests that fleeing La Liga and the ongoing tax and legal problems was not an insignificant reason. It was a darkshadow nuisance for him…and also, of course, for his father.
Along with agent Wagner Ribeiro, Neymar Snr has long since learned how to drive the hardest bargain in town. Much of the brouhaha over Neymar’s sale from Santos to Barcelona – which brought about the initial downfall of president Sandro Rosell – concerned a murky web of secret contracts, image rights and offshore payments.
Neymar Snr had seen other talented youngsters promise much and fade fast. Easy money, praise and popularity had wrecked their dreams and prospects. That was not going to happen to his son.
By 17, Neymar was not only playing for Santos’ senior team but being watched by a host of European scouts. In 2012 Barcelona beat Real Madrid to a transfer option. But it came at a price – and Neymar Snr now had Barca on the hook.
The extent became clear in January 2014 when Sandro Rosell quit as Barca president. Neymar had been brought from Brazil in 2013 and the Brazilian’s reluctance to move a year before a World Cup on home soil offered father and son a further bargaining bonus.
But when the taxman came knocking it was revealed that his transfer from Santos, as agreed with Neymar Snr more than with the club, had included staged payments – considered wages rather than transfer fees.
Hence the Neymar deal ended up costing around € 95m, and not the slimmed-down € 57m which Rosell had claimed originally – and which few observers had believed. To what extent the “game” was orchestrated by Rosell or by Neymar Snr is unclear. But the father’s significance in his son’s business affairs did soon become clear.
The transfer had included a € 10m pre-deal deposit plus € 40m to N&N (Neymar and Nadine – the father and mother’s management company). Barcelona was liable for total payments to Santos, to the player, to his family and to associates – including wages, bonuses and commissions – of more than € 130m.
When interest was reported last year from England and France, Barca needed little persuading to keep Neymar happy with a new six-year contract plus, along the way, a guaranteed bonus of € 30m for Neymar Snr to “persuade” his son to stay.
PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi felt his club had been used by Neymar Snr to force a new contract at Barcelona, but he also believed the ongoing tax storms would drive Neymar out of Spain sooner rather than later.
Ever since the tax issue had arisen, tension had been in the air and complications existed. Neymar had to buy out his contract with Barcelona for that massive € 222m and Spanish league president Javier Tebas raised all sorts of unjustified threats concerning UEFA’s financial fair play regulations.
Then there was the issue of when the deal could be done. Ideally PSG wanted everything signed and sealed by the end of July so Neymar could make his debut in the first Ligue 1 game of the season.
Neymar wanted that, but Neymar Snr did not and even the player expressed concern that his father might let the transfer slip away. The last hitch was not about the player’s £55m annual salary but the € 30m commission due to Neymar Snr for persuading his son to “stay” at Camp Nou.
The commission was due as long as Neymar was still at Barcelona at the end of July 2017. Hence it was only on August 4, after the delayed medical and signature, that Neymar flew in for the Parisian presentational circus.
PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi felt his club had been used by Neymar Snr to force a new contract