Back in Santos after more than a decade, Neymar returns to a club he left in a transfer full of contestations. When he left for Barcelona in 2013, a long battle in justice was started about business values.
The legal saga, which lasted almost a decade, was motivated by a fight involving the player, his father and businessman Delcir Sonda, owner of the DIS group.
The businessman owned the striker’s economic rights when they were sold by Santos to Barcelona. The DIS reported to the Spanish court that there would have been fraud in the amount declared in the negotiation.
The Brazilian club maintains that it received 17 million euros (R $ 104 million in current values) for the deal. Barcelona declares that the operation cost 57 million euros (R $ 350 million), 40 million euros (R $ 245 million) for the athlete’s family and 17 million euros to the Brazilian club. For the Spanish court, however, the final value of the transfer reached 83 million euros (R $ 509 million).
The DIS group was entitled to 6.8 million euros (R $ 41 million), but questioned the amount informed by Santos. It pointed out that the Catalan team, Neymar and later Santos hid about 35 million euros (R $ 214 million), camouflaged in various commercial contracts among the teams.
The DIS also sought the court for not being informed about an alleged exclusivity contract signed in 2011 with Barça, which would have tulled free competition for hiring the striker.
The case dragged on until December 2022, when the Spanish court acquitted Neymar and the rest of the prosecutors, including two former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell EE Josep María Bartomeu, as well as former Santos president Odílio Rodrigues Filho, as well as The Santista club itself, the Catalan club and the company that manages Neymar’s career.
The Spanish Public Prosecution Service, which initially embraced part of the disc charges, eventually considered that the complaints were not based on concrete evidence, “not even circumstantial,” but “assumptions”, and that the case was more civil than criminal .
The sentence, presented by the court a few days after Brazil’s elimination at the 2022 World Cup, at Qatar, when the Brazilian team was surpassed by Croatia in the quarterfinals, represented a relief for Neymar. The prosecutor even asked for two and a half years in prison for the player. In his defense, he stated that he only signed the documents at the request of his father, in whom he has full confidence.
He also stated that he did not participate in any negotiation involving Santos and Barcelona and only indicated his desire to defend the Catalan team-Real Madrid also tried to hire him.
“I knew rumors from other clubs interested in hiring me, but my dream has always been to play for Barcelona, the club of my dreams,” he said in his statement.
The acquittal in the case did not prevent his image from being scratched, at least in the eyes of Santos fans. Not for the legal fight, but for information that is part of the plot and that came to public in 2014, when journalist Rodrigo Mattos, from UOL, published that the player’s father had received money from Barcelona six days before the World Cup final of 2011 clubs, as part of the payment for the sale of the athlete, which would only be made official in May 2013.
Santos was beaten by Barcelona in the World Cup decision 4-0. Lionel Messi, twice, Fàbregas and Xavi scored the goals of the match.
“I wonder how someone’s head would be after receiving a 10 million euros check. (1942 to 2016), which presided over Santos at that time.
Neymar’s father, responsible for managing the star’s career, admitted to receiving the amount mentioned, but argued that the amount was a way for the Spanish team to secure the priority in a future negotiation. “The 10 million euros did not go to Neymar, went to N&N,” he said, citing the name of the family company that manages the career of the athlete.
The dissemination of the facts caused indignation in the counselors and the Santos fans. The relationship was no longer shudder for the strong memory of the moments of glory that the club lived with the idol, the great star of a period when the team won six titles, including a Copa Libertadores.
After that glorious phase, Santos still won two editions of the Paulista Championship without Neymar, in 2015 and 2016, before bittering a long period without elite achievements, which extends to this day. Hence the happiness of most Santos with the announcement of the star’s return to Vila Belmiro.
Apart from the past’s Rusas, many believe that Neymar can help the team out of the line of relevant titles with their field talent and also their ability to attract other renowned players.
