Sports / Soccer
Neymar pay his £200m buyout clause
03 Aug 2017 at 20:00hrs | Views
Barcelona forward Neymar has paid his buyout clause of 222m euros (£200m), the Spanish club say.
Neymar, 25, is set to sign for Paris St-Germain for a world record fee, after telling Barca he wanted to leave on Wednesday.
The Brazil international's lawyers paid the sum in person at Barca's offices.
Earlier on Thursday, Spain's top league La Liga rejected an attempt to pay it the fee over concerns PSG are violating Uefa's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
In a statement, Barca said they "will pass on to Uefa the details of the above operation so that they can determine the disciplinary responsibilities that may arise from this case".
The club said previously that they would report PSG to Uefa, European football's governing body, for a breach of FFP rules.
"On Thursday afternoon Neymar's legal representatives visited in person the club's offices and made the payment of 222m euros in the player's name with regards to the unilateral termination of the contract that united both parties,"
In Spain a player must buy himself out of his contract.
This is usually done by depositing the amount of the buyout clause with La Liga - Spain's equivalent of the Premier League - to release the player from his contract. The league then passes the money to the selling club.
"We can confirm that the lawyers of the player have come to La Liga to deposit the clause and that it has been rejected," La Liga told BBC Sport before the payment was made directly to Barcelona.
FFP rules, first implemented during the 2011-12 season, stipulate that European clubs cannot outspend what they earn by more than 30m euros.
PSG are backed by money from Gulf state Qatar and La Liga president Javier Tebas has accused the French club of "financial doping".
He told AS: "La Liga is positing that state-backed clubs that compete using 'financial doping' could destabilise professional football in Europe."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has criticised the deal, saying: "Once a country owns a club everything is possible and it becomes difficult to respect Financial Fair Play."
Neymar, 25, is set to sign for Paris St-Germain for a world record fee, after telling Barca he wanted to leave on Wednesday.
The Brazil international's lawyers paid the sum in person at Barca's offices.
Earlier on Thursday, Spain's top league La Liga rejected an attempt to pay it the fee over concerns PSG are violating Uefa's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
In a statement, Barca said they "will pass on to Uefa the details of the above operation so that they can determine the disciplinary responsibilities that may arise from this case".
The club said previously that they would report PSG to Uefa, European football's governing body, for a breach of FFP rules.
"On Thursday afternoon Neymar's legal representatives visited in person the club's offices and made the payment of 222m euros in the player's name with regards to the unilateral termination of the contract that united both parties,"
In Spain a player must buy himself out of his contract.
This is usually done by depositing the amount of the buyout clause with La Liga - Spain's equivalent of the Premier League - to release the player from his contract. The league then passes the money to the selling club.
"We can confirm that the lawyers of the player have come to La Liga to deposit the clause and that it has been rejected," La Liga told BBC Sport before the payment was made directly to Barcelona.
FFP rules, first implemented during the 2011-12 season, stipulate that European clubs cannot outspend what they earn by more than 30m euros.
PSG are backed by money from Gulf state Qatar and La Liga president Javier Tebas has accused the French club of "financial doping".
He told AS: "La Liga is positing that state-backed clubs that compete using 'financial doping' could destabilise professional football in Europe."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has criticised the deal, saying: "Once a country owns a club everything is possible and it becomes difficult to respect Financial Fair Play."
Source - BBc
