I Love Neymar

Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino has stated that the summer signing Neymar has certainly suffered from a dip in form because of the controversy surrounding his transfer. Neymar was brought to the club for a reported £ 48.5 million. This was the transfer fee revealed by Barcelona, but a complaint filed by one of the club members brought out a scam that reveals that the actual transfer fee may be in excess of £ 86 million. The whole value of the transfer when the salary of the player is taken into account crosses £ 110 million, thus making him the most expensive player in the world.

Barcelona were in danger of being filed for tax fraud before the club decided to make a payment of more than 10 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities. Prior to the revelation, Neymar was one of Barcelona’s best players this season. He was unable to match the record of Lionel Messi, but considering that this is his first season in European football, a return of 12 goals in 32 matches was extremely good for the Brazilian striker. Martino, though, says that the record would have been even better had it not been for the controversy, which seems to have affected the 21-year-old.

“If I had to give an explanation for [his form] then I would say it is to do with that. In his best moments he has played on the left or as a centre-forward and the other day he was on the right, where I also thought he did well. When a player has been out injured a month it is not easy to get back to their best form straight away. It is not like a day, or three days but a month,” said Martino. Barcelona president Sandro Rosell resigned due to his involvement in the case.

After weeks of investigation and rumors involving Neymar’s switch from Santos to Barcelona it was finally determined that the Brazilian made his move to Spain with a transfer fee of around €57 million and €40 million of that money was transferred to a company which is owned by Neymar’s father and the deal involved paying the company a substantial fee as part of the transfer in commission but Barcelona did not report or announce a lot of those facts, which is why the investigation was done and the Catalan club had to dig out many documents of the exchange.

The former president of Santos Luis Alvaro de Oliviera Ribeiro called Neymar to be a jerk and that it was a right decision to put people like him in court. He may be referring to the fact that the Brazilian knew all about the transaction with the substantial amount of money going directly to his family but instead of announcing it, he just remained quiet.

Neymar replied to Luis Alvaro de Olivier Ribeiro and he also criticized the board of directors of Santos as well as defending his father.
“Today, I understand why my friend Ganso didn’t stay in Santos: it wasn’t because he didn’t like the club or didn’t want to play for Santos, but because of the board of directors!

“I always respected all of them and I have been extremely professional. I’m utterly disappointed with former president LAOR and the current one, Odilio’’
“Today all that is gone after the things he said about my father. I’m sick of that, all that talking is getting on my nerves! If he thought my father was dumb, he was wrong! I’m a fan of my father and I’ll continue to be for having taken me to where I am today and if he made millions over that, what’s the problem? He worked; he didn’t wait for anything to fall from the skies’’.’Neymar wrote on his Intagram account.

Neymar’s £ 50 million move to Barcelona is under a lot of investigation after allegations that the club simulated most of the values in the contract. The deal that took Neymar from Santos to Barcelona is believed to have been worth € 57 million. However, only € 17 million is thought to have been paid to the Brazilian outfit with the rest going to Neymar’s parents, who own a company called N&N. It is also thought that Barcelona paid around € 8 million to secure the rights to buy Neymar in 2014. A penalty of € 30 million was also in place if the Catalan club failed to make the purchase in time.

Since Barcelona were able to complete the deal in 2013 itself, it is understood that they have paid € 40 million to Neymar’s parents. This has caused a lot of controversy in Spain and the public prosecutors are ready to approach the court in order to reveal the true figures. Any negative outcome is likely to have disastrous consequences on president Sandro Rosell’s future at the club. Rosell made it a priority to bring Neymar – one of the hottest properties in world football to the club at any price.

Neymar, though, has denied speculation that there was simulation done in his move.

“I know that a lot is being said about my contract. I have spoken to [my father] to see what they were talking about exactly. My father was the one who signed the contracts and he is someone in whom I have total trust. There is nothing illegal. In any case, if anyone has any doubts, they should ask my dad because I’m concentrating on my job, which is playing football,” said the striker.

He has been in reasonably good form, but suffered an injury last weekend.

Barcelona superstar Neymar has revealed that he is extremely happy with life at the Spanish club. The striker was £ 50 million signing from Santos in the summer. Many questioned his ability to adapt to life in European football after spending much of his youth days playing in Brazil. The 21-year-old is regarded as one of the hottest properties in world football and the Catalan club had to beat off competition from the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea for his signature. He has proven to be a good signing so far after scoring four goals in the league alone.

Neymar has said that he already has experienced intense pressure with Santos, but the pressure after moving to Barcelona is on another level. The club is expected to win every match they take part, while Neymar is also expected to score lots of goals being the major summer signing. The injury to Lionel Messi has only increased the expectations of Neymar. The Argentine superstar is not expected to return until January. Even though he plays on the left, his astronomical transfer value means that people expect to score goals on a regular basis.

“It was the right moment to leave Brazil. I have chosen a marvellous club to play for – they have welcomed me with open arms. In Brazil, if you have a ball, you are already happy. If you are happy, then everything will be alright. Sometimes it feels like a dream. I look to one side and see [Lionel] Messi. To the other, Xavi Hernández. I am incredibly excited and honoured but there’s no fear,” said the 21-year-old striker to UEFA magazine.

Neymar has been used to the prospect of being the big star at Santos, but he is adapting to being one of the top players at Barcelona.

Lionel Messi helped Barcelona get a victory over Valencia during the weekend with a hat-trick. The 3-2 victory for Barcelona could have easily become a defeat had it not been for the brilliance of Lionel Messi and also new signing Neymar. There have been several doubts as to whether the two players can play in the same team, but manager Gerardo Martino revealed that this match shows more than anything else that they can play in the same team without any problem. Neymar was excellent, while Messi was absolutely brilliant as usual.

Neymar set up Messi for the hat trick to get Barcelona 3-0 up in the match. It looked like comfortable sailing for the Catalan giants, but they conceded two goals to Helder Postiga, who was brought in as a replacement for Roberto Soldado. This setup an intense final few minutes because Valencia threatened a lot to equalise and steal a point away from the Camp Nou. Barcelona, though, held on for the victory and they have now won all the opening matches of the season. They are one of the four teams to have this record after three games of the season.

Martino did admit that Barcelona did have a few problems when the ball was played into the penalty box.

“Yesterday there were doubts about the Messi and Neymar connection after their first game together. Things have been solved within 24 hours. It is true that in the second half we could have increased the difference. But at the same time Valencia hit the woodwork and that’s what concerns me most. I don’t think we’ve had a lack of control because we knew they would use their height. I believe that had the outcome have been different, I would still have been satisfied,” said Martino after the match.

Spanish giants Barcelona have told new signing Neymar that he has a choice between taking either the club’s number 7 or 11 shirts when he returns from his summer holidays for his first practice session at the Camp Nou. The # 11 shirt became available after the club announced the sale of Thiago Alcantara to Bayern Munich, managed by former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola on Monday while the # 7 has also become after the arrival of the Brazilian led to David Villa’s exit to Atletico Madrid.

The Catalan giants paid a whopping € 57 million to prize him away from Santos after a pursuit of almost two years and the club wants to recoup as much money as they can from shirt sales as soon as they can, considering the fact that their financial condition is not very stable and have a lot of debt with various financial institutions.

The club has negotiated a deal with Neymar where they will retain much of the image rights for the Brazilian international which will enable them to get the most out of one of the most marketable assets in world football. And it is believed that the club has sought a quick decision from the player in order to capitalize on the immense demand for shirt sales with the name and number of the Brazilian wonder kid on the back.

The 21 year old is believed to favor the # 11 shirt which he wore during his time at Santos, where he became the most prolific scorer in the history of the club since the days of the legendary Pele. Neymar will join up with the club on the 25^th of July but it is expected the club will start selling shirts bearing his name much before he arrives at Camp Nou.