Neymar signing cost Barca over €86m

Reuters

The deal to sign Neymar cost Barcelona €86.2m, including payments to the forward and his family, the club said yesterday after the player's father revoked a confidentiality agreement.

The Brazil international's close-season move from Santos, which the Spanish club initially said was worth €57.1m, is being investigated by a court for possible misappropriation of funds following a complaint from a Barca member.

Sandro Rosell, who was named in the lawsuit but denies wrongdoing, stepped down as president on Thursday.

Barca had been reluctant to reveal all the details of the deal, citing the confidentiality agreement, but after a board meeting yesterday, Rosell's successor Josep Bartomeu told a news conference Neymar's father had given them permission to go public.

Barca director Raul Sanllehi reiterated the transfer on its own had cost €57.1m including €17.1m to Santos and €40m euros as a "compensation fee" paid to a company owned by Neymar's parents.

However, he also detailed other payments around the transfer such as a signing bonus of €10m and various other fees paid to the family.

The player had received more lucrative offers from some of Barca's rivals but decided to move to the Catalan capital because he believed in the club's project, Bartomeu said.

Bartomeu said he and the rest of the board intended to see out their mandate until 2016 even if he or vice president Javier Faus are implicated in the lawsuit. They also intend to stand for re-election for a further term.