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Neymar investor threatens to go to court

Confusion reigns over the details of the Neymar transfer © PA Photos

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One of Neymar's former investors has threatened to go to the Brazilian courts to get money he claims he is owed from the player's transfer to Barcelona, amid confusion over the sums due to each of the various stakeholders in the deal.

Barca vice-president Jose Maria Bartomeu said at Neymar's presentation last Monday that his club had paid a total of €57 million for the player. Bartomeu would not disclose the exact details of how that sum was being divided between the player's former side Santos, his father and the other parties involved.

DIS Esporte executive director Roberto Moreno told Bloomberg that he had not been kept abreast of the negotiations between Santos, Neymar senior and Barcelona, and he was planning legal action to find out what exactly had happened.

"It was in the contract that we should be informed about the negotiations," Moreno said. "I am going to wait one more week and then I will open a case in court to get access to the information."

DIS Esporte, controlled by Brazilian supermarket tycoon Delcir Sonda, reportedly has investments in 80 players. Having up till last week owned a 40% 'stake' in Neymar, the company expected to receive 40% of the total €57m fee.

However, Brazilian paper Folha de Sao Paulo claims that Santos will receive only €17.1m, which they would divide with DIS and fellow investors Teisa. Neymar, and his father, was then to receive the other €40m as a signing-on fee. Moreno said he did not know if these reports were correct.

"The facts we have are only what we have read in the press: that the transfer fee was €57m," he said. "Right now I do not know if it is more or less."

A €10m down payment made last year by Barca is also causing disquiet among observers of the deal. This sum was included in the blaugrana's annual accounts for 2012, and Bartomeu said on Monday it was included in the €57m total Barca were paying to sign the player.

Mundo Deportivo reported last year that the money had gone directly to Neymar's "entourage", while Moreno has told Catalan radio station RAC1 that if made to Santos such a payment would be against FIFA rules.

Amid this confusion Neymar senior told Brazilian reporters in comments published in AS that this €10m had originally been destined for DIS, but he did not now know where it had gone.

"That money was to buy the share of DIS, but that did not work because they did not want to sell," Neymar senior said. "They always made the negotiations difficult. Barcelona's interest already existed, but we did not receive anything in advance. I do not know what happened with that money."

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