Barcelona win lawsuit against Santos for breach of agreement.
Barcelona has won a lawsuit against Brazilian club, Santos, after they failed to keep their agreement with the Catalan giants. When the La Liga giants bought Neymar for a whopping 57 million euros in 2013, they paid them 7 million euros, included within the Neymar deal for preferential treatment for three other players. When Santos failed to keep their word, the court of Arbitration for Sports ruled in favor of the Spanish side.
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Barca chose three players from Santos during the Neymar deal as potential future transfers. To secure them to the club, a clause was made for preferential treatment which would mean that the club could sign the players without too much hassle if and when they wanted to. However, when the Brazilian side sold Gabriel Barbosa, one of the chosen three players, to Inter Milan in 2016, they apparently breached their contract with the Spanish giants.
Blaugrana claims that when Inter started negotiations for the striker, Santos did not give them enough time to contemplate over whether they should match the bid or not. This allowed Inter to snatch one of their potential transfers and thus breaking the contract that they had signed in 2013.
The court has now ruled in favor of Barca and the Brazilian club must pay the Spaniards 2.9 million euros for failing to maintain their agreement. The player was sold to the Italian side for almost 30 million euros. However, he did not fare well in Italy and was sent out on multiple loans to Benfica, Santos and Flamengo before finally being sold to Flamengo in 2019.
Would you have wanted to see Barbosa at Camp Nou?