Chronicle Editor
Spain’s La Liga yesterday rejected payment of a record-breaking release clause that would allow Neymar to leave Barcelona for Paris St Germain, a source from the national soccer league said.
A group of lawyers representing Brazilian Neymar visited La Liga in Madrid yesterday to try to settle the transfer and pay the 222 million-euro ($263 million) break fee.
It was not immediately clear whether La Liga’s refusal to accept payment would put the brakes on the transfer.
PSG’s president Nasser al-Khelaifi declined to comment when asked about the latest development during a visit to a children’s holiday camp outside Paris where France president Emmanuel Macron was also in attendance.
“I’m here today on behalf of PSG’s foundation,” Qatari businessman al-Khelaifi said.
Spain’s Marca newspaper reported that Neymar and his advisors would turn to Fifa, world soccer’s governing body, requesting a provisional transfer to PSG.
The striker’s agent Wagner Ribeiro had said on Wednesday that the French club was ready to foot the bill so that Neymar could be presented at PSG at the weekend.
La Liga president, Javier Tebas, had already warned in an interview that Spain’s league would not accept payment by PSG to trigger the release clause, saying it was potentially in breach of Uefa Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
Under the those rules, a club’s wage bill must not exceed 70 percent of its revenue.
Uefa, European football’s governing body, told Reuters on Wednesday that had been no complaint received so far about PSG in this respect, adding that it would not block any potential deal in advance.
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp’s conflicting views on Neymar’s imminent move from Barcelona to Paris St Germain offer an insight into how the €222 million deal has divided opinion across football.
Mourinho, who sanctioned Paul Pogba’s world record 105 million euro move from Juventus to Manchester United last year, said PSG were not paying over the odds given Neymar’s quality, but he is concerned by the financial “consequences”.
“When we paid that amount for Paul, I said that it was not expensive,” United manager Mourinho told British media.
“Expensive are the ones who get into a certain level without a certain quality… For £200 million, I don’t think (Neymar) is expensive.
“I think he’s expensive in the fact that now you are going to have more players at £100 million, you are going have more players at 80 million and more players at 60 million. And I think that’s the problem.
“Neymar is one of the best players in the world, commercially he is very strong and for sure PSG thought about it. So I think the problem is not Neymar, I think the problem is the consequences of Neymar.”
Liverpool manager Klopp criticised the deal and questioned the effectiveness of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, which stipulate that a club’s wage bill must not exceed 70 percent of its revenue.
“There are clubs that can pay fees like that – Manchester City and PSG. Everyone knows that,” Klopp told reporters in Munich on Wednesday.
City are owned by United Arab Emirates billionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, while PSG were taken over in 2012 by Qatar Sports Investments, an arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
“I thought fair play was made so that situations like that can’t happen. That’s more of a suggestion than a real rule. I don’t understand that. I don’t know how it happens,” Klopp added.
Uefa told Reuters on Wednesday that no complaint had been received about PSG, adding that it would not block any potential deal in advance. — Reuters.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter