© EuroFootball.com
Just a day after Sandro Rosell stepped down from his duties and rumors were swirling in the media that Neymar cost 95 million euros, the leaders of Barcelona fired back at a specially organized press conference.
During the press conference, the new head of the Catalan club, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and the director of the football section, Raul Sanllehi, not only explained the reasons for S. Rosell's resignation but also thoroughly disclosed what everyone least expected - the details of Neymar's acquisition deal and even the player's salary.
"There have been many different things written about Neymar and his transfer recently, but I want to emphasize once again that the information we made public last summer is correct. From the beginning, we said that Neymar cost 57.1 million euros and I can guarantee that we never lied," - started the press conference J. M. Bartomeu.
"Barcelona has once lost Alfredo Di Stefano in such 'boardroom battles,' but it did not happen with Neymar. I want to remind you again that the club did not hide any information of its own volition, but there are agreements with other parties to the contract who do not want detailed information to be made public. We respect those agreements. However, today the situation is different. Neymar's father himself called the club and allowed the publication of the part of the agreement that had so far been considered confidential, so now our hands are untied, and we can present those figures," - noted the president.
J.M. Bartomeu also thanked Neymar's father for allowing the disclosure of confidential agreements: "He realized that a very difficult situation had arisen. Barcelona was unfairly accused of fraud, many falsehoods were written about us, and we could not defend ourselves properly because we could not disclose confidential information. Now the burden has been lifted from our shoulders."
"In football, victories are achieved on the field, not behind closed doors. Barcelona's socio Jordi Cases, who filed a lawsuit, indeed turned to the club and demanded detailed information about Neymar's transfer. However, one aspect needs to be understood here. If we only name the transfer amount, it means that is the information we can provide. We could not disclose the confidential part of the agreement to J. Cases. As a Barcelona socio, he has the right to turn to the club and request information, but he cannot be considered an exception in any way. If the confidential contract points were not public, it means that we did not provide such information to him personally," - continued J.M. Bartomeu.
According to the president of Barcelona, in recent weeks the so-called "Neymar case" received a lot of media attention, and soon rumors contradicting reality poured one after another.
For example, the Madrid newspaper "El Mundo," based on some "documents obtained from the prosecution," claimed that the Brazilian cost the Catalan club 95 million euros.
It was confirmed that part of Neymar's transfer also included three young "Santos" players, to which Barcelona acquired preferential rights, paying almost 8 million euros. The media also reported that the Catalan club would have to pay Neymar's former team 9 million euros for two future friendly matches.
All these journalist conclusions were denied by R. Sanllehi, who spoke after the president.
"We are pleased that we now have the right to disclose information that has caused such a stir lately. The most diverse numbers were announced, conflicting with reality. I want to emphasize that transparency is important to us, but we kept silent for the aforementioned reasons - other parties to the contract did not want the details to be revealed. So, Neymar's transfer amount is 57.1 million euros. Of this money, 40 million euros go to the company "N&N," which had rights to the player, 17.1 million euros to the "Santos" club. There is also a planned additional payment of 2 million euros, which will go to "Santos" if Neymar is among the top three footballers in the "Golden Ball" rankings," R. Sanllehi explained.
The director of the football section also explained why Barcelona paid 40 million euros to the N&N company.
"Everything is quite simple. The player had a contract with 'Santos' until the summer of 2014, but the rights to him belonged to 'N&N'. It is no secret that this is a company controlled by Neymar's father. We decided to acquire the player in 2013, i.e., earlier than his contract expired, so we paid the redemption amount specified in his contract, and the "Santos" team received 17.1 million euros for a terminated contract," mentioned one of the leaders of the Catalan club.
Neymar's father showed me an offer from another club, valued at 100 million euros. However, the player himself wanted to play for Barca, so he rejected that offer, even though he would have earned almost twice as much on another team. We usually do not discuss specific player salaries, but this time we have permission to do so. Neymar will earn 8.8 million euros per year. Will pay additional fees to agents - 2.7 million euros over five years, additional cooperation agreements - 7.9 million euros, scout payments - 2 million euros. In five years at Barca, Neymar will earn 56.7 million euros, but I want to emphasize that the player's salary and the figures I mentioned earlier - agent fees, scout payments, etc. - in no way represent the player's transfer fee. These figures are included in the contracts of all players, whose representatives and agents receive a percentage of the contract amount. We also signed an additional commercial agreement worth 4 million euros over 5 years, but this money will return to the club through another channel and will become club revenue," said R. Sanllehi.
"It was strange to read media reports that Barcelona will have to pay 9 million euros for two friendly matches with Santos as part of Neymar's contract. This is not true. We will not pay anything for these friendly matches but will allocate 2.5 million euros to a fund that fights poverty in Brazil. So, this is a charity," explained the head of the football section.
The press conference, which lasted for more than two hours, was followed by a number of questions from journalists to the new team president, J. M. Bartomeu.
He was also asked why Barcelona did not disclose such information before S. Rosell's resignation: "I emphasize once again that S. Rosell's resignation is not related at all to these disturbances caused by Neymar. It was his own decision, which he made personally and after discussions with his family. The Barcelona board of directors tried to convince him to continue working, but S. Rosell did not change his mind. On the day of his resignation, we did not have permission to disclose confidential information and we did not do so. Now we have this right, and we did it."
Journalists were also interested in whether the transfer amount for Neymar included Barcelona's agreement with Santos, which gave the Catalans preferential rights to three of the most promising players from the Brazilian team's youth academy.
"These are not related agreements. We agreed on the three players earlier, and these are completely different agreements," noted J. M. Bartomeu.
The president also had to answer questions about a lawsuit filed by the Barcelona socio J. Cases.
"Mr. J. Cases has every right to turn to the club and demand information. I am also a socio and might have acted the same way, but Mr. J. Cases cannot be considered an exception. If confidential information was not provided to other club members, it was not provided to him personally. I don't worry about any trial. I know that Mr. J. Cases has stated that he intends to file accusations against me and Vice President Javier Faus. Our signatures are also on the Neymar contract. Well, if necessary, we will provide all explanations to the court. We continue to work and do not resign. Filing a lawsuit does not mean we did anything wrong. We know that Mr. J. Cases is an 'active' socio who constantly demands information from the club. This does not surprise us. Competent lawyers closely monitored the entire Neymar transfer process, it was approved by FIFA, so we have nothing to worry about," he said. J. M. Bartomeu.
"I spoke with coach Gerardo Martino. The president's resignation surprised him, but 'Tata' is a top-level professional and understands that he must continue working. By the way, I want to say that G. Martino will continue to coach the team next season. The club management fully trusts him," noted the new Barcelona president.
By the way, the press conference was briefly interrupted by J. M. Bartomeu's mobile phone ringing.
"I don't know who's calling," smiled the head of the Catalan club. "Since yesterday, I have received 314 'Whatsup' messages, 190 SMS, and 82 missed calls. I didn't have time to figure out who was writing and calling me."
These words of the president seemed to dispel the tension in the room. Journalists greeted J. M. Bartomeu's response with laughter and applause.
Furthermore, the new head of the Catalan club promised that he would talk to Jordi Cruyff in the near future, who lost the position of club honorary president when S. Rosell took over the reins of Barca.
Some Spanish football pundits highly praised the Barcelona press conference, which lasted more than two hours.
"It is obvious that there have been changes in the club, and all of them are positive. J. M. Bartomeu earned respect and trust right in his first press conference as Barcelona president. Concrete and detailed answers, a confidence radiating, determination to continue the work started. Although he takes over S. Rosell's duties and is considered his close ally, we see that he is not a copy of the president. He impressed with simplicity," wrote Joan Vehils from Sport.
