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The turn of Neymar Jr has arrived. The Brazilian star who plays for PSG presented his defense before the Spanish court on Tuesday, October 18th after his request to change the date was accepted during the first day of the CASO DIS. In this second part, the 30-year-old football player assures that he "signed everything his father told him" and that he did it "to fulfill his dream of playing for FC Barcelona."
“I knew about the rumors of other clubs, but my dream was to sign for Barça and in 2013 I decided to go to Barça and leave Santos. I had options from many clubs, but my dream was always to play for Barça, since I was a child I wanted to play there and I always follow my heart. I remember I had Madrid as an option to go and I don't remember others. In the last moment it was Madrid or Barça but my heart made me go to Barça,” said Neymar.
The Prosecutor's Office and DIS Group accuse former presidents of FC Barcelona, Santos, and Neymar's family of corruption and fraud for an alleged negotiation they made for his signing in 2013 behind DIS's back, which owns 40% of the player's rights.
What happened? FC Barcelona stated that they paid 57 million for Neymar, of which 17 went to DIS for federative rights. However, it was known that Santos and Barcelona made a parallel contract where there is a higher sum of 82 million, and according to DIS, they believe they should have received almost 33 instead of the initial 17.
What is the relationship between DIS and Neymar?
N&N is the company that represents Neymar and belongs to his parents. In 2009, the parents of the Brazilian player signed an agreement with DIS so that the latter could receive 40% and also participate in the negotiations if there was interest from a foreign club to sign him.
What happened? FC Barcelona declared that they paid 57 million for Neymar, of which 17 went to DIS for federative rights. However, it was known that Santos and Barcelona made a parallel contract where there is a higher sum of 82 million, and according to DIS, they consider that they should have received an amount close to 33 instead of the initial 17.
What did Florentino Pérez say about Neymar's signing?
The president of Real Madrid denied having made any pre-agreement with DIS or N&N for the Brazilian.
“I don't know Neymar, I have never spoken to him personally. We were interested in Neymar's signing about 10 years ago. Players go wherever they want. Neymar wanted to go to Barcelona and that's why he went to Barcelona,” said Florentino Pérez.
“I believe that in 2011 the offer was 45 million. That's what the Real Madrid archives show. We were interested when they informed us that he wanted to leave Santos to come to Europe. I know this from the sports management of Real Madrid. I didn't know anything else. I didn't talk to him or anyone else about this.”
On the other hand, the head of the Real Madrid entity denied knowing about the agreement between Barcelona and Neymar's representatives.
“As far as I know, we did not have knowledge of the agreement with Barcelona. At least I don't. All the documentation we have about that is provided in the case file. It was a long time ago and I didn't participate in the negotiations. I believe that yes, an earlier offer of 30 million was made.”
“I have been at Real Madrid for 18 years and all the offers we have made for players have been transparent. All these matters at Real Madrid are handled by the sports management,” he concluded.