Neymar on Wednesday spoke out about his highly scrutinized transfer to Barcelona from Brazilian giant Santos last summer, claiming that there was “nothing illegal”about the 57 million euro-plus ($77.5 million) deal, which is currently being investigated by a Spanish prosecuting judge.
Of course Neymar, who is 22, notes that his father looks after hisbusiness affairs, not unlike teammate Lionel Messi, who said the same thing when his taxes were being investigated last year. “I know there has been a lot of talk about my contract,”the Brazil international said. “My father signed the contracts and he is obviously a person I have full confidence in. There is nothing illegal. In any case if there is any doubt you can ask myfather, because I just focus on my job — which is playing soccer.”
However, ESPN reports that the Spanish press believes two different versions of the paperwork of Neymar’s transferexist, and that the deal was structured so that a large chunk of the fee went to the player’s father and agent. Barcelona, meanwhile, has firmly denied any wrongdoing while maintaining that aconfidentiality clause means it cannot disclose to its own members who was paid what.