Barcelona finally cleared of fraud in Neymar transfer

Barcelona can breath a sigh of relief after being cleared from controversy regarding Neymar signing in 2013

As per Goal.com,The Catalan side claimed they signed the Brazil star from Santos for €17 million, though it was later reports showed that the total transfer fee paid came to around €83m, with Barca making payments to a private company owned by Neymar.

Santos appealed to CAS claiming they were owed over €61m in compensation but the court has ruled in favour of Barcelona, insisting they did not make an illegal transactions.

Neymar was a record breaking signing for the Catalans.He signed for Barcelona in 2013 after winning the Confederations Cup with Brazil. The 2014-15 season was his statement season where he went onto win the treble with Barcelona and several individual awards.He finished the season with 39 goals in all competitions and 10 in the Champions League, making him joint top scorers with Ronaldo and Messi. He hit the third goal for Barcelona in the 3–1 Champions League against Juventus at Berlin, helping the club secure its fifth European Cup.

This made Barcelona the premier club in history to win the treble of domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup twice. Barcelona’s front trio of Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, was called “MSN”, ending with a combined 122 goals.He was also the hero of the 6–1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the 2016–17 Champions League round of 16, scoring two decisive goals and assisting the ultimate goal by Sergi Roberto.

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PSG immediately triggered €222 million release clause of his contract, which became the most expensive transfer fee, and he went onto win the domestic treble in the first season.But he was not able to improve PSG’s Champions League fortunes. He has scored 47 goals in 52 appearances with the majority of three seasons plagued with injuries. This CL season PSG defeated Dortmund in a 3-2 aggregate comeback where he scored a header from a corner and assisted Bernat’s goal. He won his third French title after PSG were awarded the Ligue 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Barca President Rosell who signed him from Santos in 2013 recently stated that Neymar is the second-best player in the world ahead of Ronaldo and only behind Messi fitting Barca’s philosophy as well.

Neymar was close to joining Barcelona back last summer although both parties couldn’t agree to a contract.However, this week Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu this week ruled out the possibility of his side bringing because of the financial crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The CAS verdict expects Santos to pay FC Barcelona’s legal costs, a figure of 20,000 Swiss francs.