Barcelona sued Neymar for €8.5 million last week for overpayments made to the Brazilian and in retaliation the Paris Saint-Germain forward has instructed his lawyers to counter-sue his former club for €44 million in relation to unpaid bonuses.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward has also filed an appeal against an earlier June ruling, which ordered him to pay the Catalan giants €6.7 million.
In total, Neymar is now demanding close to €60 million from his ex club. The Brazilian is suing the club to cough up the remaining €44 million from a renewal bonus the club had allegedly agreed to. Neymar’s demand comes despite the fact that he did not finish the duration of the stipulated mutually agreed renewal, with him so far receiving only the percentage of the bonus that Barcelona paid him until his departure for Paris.
Marca alleges that the renewal bonus was worth €26 million, that being part of the contract that should have seen Neymar at the Camp Nou until 2021. However, the forward had different plans and decided to cut the contract short to join the Ligue 1 champions on a lucrative deal in 2017. Consequently, Barcelona feel that they don’t need to pay him any part of the renewal bonus.
On the contrary, Barcelona are insistent that they have overpaid Neymar by €10 million with the overpayment being allegedly part of funds paid to Neymar as Barcelona was trying to avoid tax irregularities during an official investigation on his transfer from Santos to Barcelona in 2013. Barcelona were accused of concealing the real amount paid to Santos at that time but the club has since denied all the allegations.
On top of all the confusion and legal wrangling on both sides, Neymar is also believed to still be owing up to €34.6 million in back taxes from his earnings during his time in Spain.
One wonders if the fleet-footed Brazilian is conjuring up some slick moves in the hope of securing for himself a bargaining chip in the wake of recent news that he has been in contact with Barcelona’s presidential candidates, plotting his comeback to Camp Nou.
He is, after all, a brilliant strategist on the pitch and there’s no reason to assume he does not possess the nous off it as well.
There is such a thing as out-of-court settlements, after all’s said and done.