The Prosecutor's Office withdraws the accusation of all those accused in the Neymar case

The Public Prosecutor's Office withdrew all the accusations against Neymar and Sandro Rosell (president of Barcelona between 2010 and 2014) in the case of the allegedly fraudulent signing of the Brazilian player for the Catalan club in 2013. The prosecutor Luis García Cantón also understood that both Josep Maria Bartomeu (at the time Barça's sports vice president) as the footballer's father and the Santos director, Odilio Rodrigues, have not committed any crime or simulated any contract in the transfer of the current PSG player to the Barça entity.

“This case has not been built on the basis of even circumstantial evidence.

It has been built on the basis of presumptions, "concluded the Public Prosecutor, who understands that the accused may have "broken" or "even trampled" the FIFA regulations or the Civil Code, but not the Penal Code.

The prosecutor requested, from the outset, five years in prison and a 10 million euro fine against the former Barça president, Sandro Rosell.

And, against Neymar, he asked for two years in prison and a 10 million fine.

In both cases, for a crime of corruption in business.

“The leader of the negotiation was always Raúl Sanllehí (at that time, director of football for Barcelona).

I was informed of the money from the transactions, but I did not intervene in the legal work.

For that we had a very large department”, explained Rosell.

And he defended his friend, the former president of the Barça entity between 2014 and 2021, Bartomeu, who at that time signed Neymar's contracts as vice president of the sports area.

"He never participated in the negotiation," said the Catalan businessman.

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Rosell on the Neymar case: "I only set the economic limits"

The former president of FC Barcelona, ​​Sandro Rosell, upon his arrival at the Audiencia de Barcelona.Photo: EFE |

Video: EFE

“In football it seems that contracts are there to be broken, not to be fulfilled.

That is the impression that being present at this trial has been able to give, ”valued the prosecutor.

In 2011, Barcelona had reached an agreement with Neymar so that he would dress as a Barça player in 2014, once he finished his relationship with Santos.

To tie the then young promise of Brazilian football, the Barça club paid N&N, a family business that belongs to the footballer's family, 60 million for various concepts.

“It is not a bribe, it is a transfer bonus that consists of an extra amount that a club pays a player for the mere fact that he comes to that club, and that is not prohibited or a crime,” the prosecutor valued.

However, according to Rosell, the Catalan club anticipated the signing.

And for that he had to agree with Santos.

“We only advanced the contract six months.

Santos was paid 17, when his thing was to wait six months and have paid zero.

As someone very famous said [referring to Johan Cruyff], the money has to be on the pitch and not in the bank”, Rosell said.

In total, Barça paid the São Paulo club 25 million: 17.1, for the transfer;

and 7.9, for the preferential option, which he never exercised, over three young promises of the Brazilian team.

“Barça had many agreements with the grassroots football of other clubs, especially in Argentina and Brazil, such as with Boca Juniors or Fluminense”, explained Bartomeu.

In addition, Barça agreed with Santos to play two friendlies (only one was played).

It happened, then, that the DIS fund, which exercises the private prosecution, only received 6.8 million from the entire operation, despite having 40% of the striker's transfer rights.

Rosell stressed that he was unaware that DIS will have a percentage of the player and called it a "vulture fund" during his statement.

And, in that sense, Rosell attributed the payments made to N & N to the need to "have a priority right" over Neymar in the future, something that he recalled is "very common" in the world of football.

And he closed: “I did not negotiate the transfer, although I am convinced that someone called me or the general manager would ask me the price and I told him a maximum.

Probably, it would be 18 or 20 million, I don't remember.

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