Neymar demanded the creation of an agency in Brazil to charge commissions
Brazilian soccer star Neymar demanded Barcelona create a commercial office in Brazil through which he would receive a commission of 20% of each transaction they materialized.
The Brazilian footballer pressured the club to give the green light to this project and even sent a draft contract in February 2017, to which EL MUNDO had access and which was the subject of countless reproaches by the club’s control bodies, which warned that another Neymar 2 case could be repeated.
That is, a court case similar to the one that will soon bring the Paris Saint Germain (PSG) player to the dock for having been paid by the club during the time of Sandro Rosell through contracts that the Tax Agency considered simulated.
The Brazilian international, through his father and agent, Neymar da Silva Santos, discussed with the entity chaired by Josep Maria Bartomeu the possible terms of the agreement.
As with other deals proposed by important players, those responsible for signing off on the contract at the club, led by the legal and compliance departments, raised serious objections.
“I must draw attention to the fact that it was precisely a similar contract that was one of those that was criminalized – for the time being – in the case known as Neymar 2,” Barça’s chief counsel stressed.
Neymar proposed to close the deal through one of his companies, Neymar Sport & Marketing, Ltda, domiciled by his father in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.
ALL BARÇA’S BUSINESS IN LATIN AMERICA THROUGH NEYMAR
The objective was the “presentation and intermediation of commercial proposals by NR Sports in favor of FC Barcelona“.
Specifically, “businesses, sponsors, and product licensing companies to perpetuate the brands and products in the Latin American market”.
Likewise, the company NR_Sports formally committed itself to the “creation, development and installation of a business office with the main objective of spreading the brand and name of FC Barcelona in Latin America”.
In short, Barça reserved 80% of the revenues and the player 20%.
At the outset, the club’s lawyers rejected outright that, as Neymar intended, Barça could only work on an exclusive basis in Brazil through his company.
Also, the development of the office and its strategy should be the responsibility of the player’s family instead of the club. In other words, the club “cannot be a prisoner of this type of commitment with a company that is only an intermediary”.
Once again, they also put on the table the “possible conflict of interest” that this initiative would generate, and the financial director, Pancho Schroder, added another risk:
“The Tax Agency (in its infinite collection eagerness) could consider the commissions as income from the player’s work. I don’t see that as impossible.” Neymar’s departure a few months later took the project with him.
With information from El Mundo
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