Paris Saint-Germain had everything lined up for the Brazilian star. Neymar said goodbye to Barcelona and agreed to terms on a record contract with the Parisian club. PSG even planned to have him play in the Ligue 1 opener Saturday against Amiens.
To complete the transfer, PSG just needed to send over the largest cheque in club football history to Barcelona to the tune of £198 Million (€222 Million)
That was was on Wednesday. Then a day later, the story got even more complicated as it was rejected by La Liga!
Neymar’s lawyer, Juan de Dios Crespo, who specializes in sports law, showed up to the league’s offices in Madrid, with the cheque in hand, ready to pay Barcelona. La Liga turned it down.
La Liga said in a statement “We can confirm Neymar legal representatives went to La Liga to pay buyout clause and it has been rejected. That’s all the information we are going to give for the moment.”
Neymar’s transfer just took another turn, but no one should have been surprised that the rejection happened.
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La Liga President, Javier Tebas, told AS on Wednesday, that they were going to reject the transfer based on PSG failing to meet the Financial Fair Play regulations and what he calls “economic doping.”
“Basically, what will be denounced is the unfair competition that involves competing against the clubs/state, the teams that receive economic injections from countries that give away players to their fans at the expense of removing them from others. As for PSG, it is a clear example of financial doping, club/state.”
According to the Spanish outlet, MARCA, the league cannot block Neymar’s transfer to PSG. And since PSG are paying the full release clause written in Neymar’s Barcelona contract, FIFA could give “provisional pass.” The outlet continues to explain that regarding the Financial Fair Play argument, UEFA can only begin looking into the transfer as of August 31st—the end of the transfer window.
At this point, no one knows what is going to happen. This is truly unprecedented in the world of football.