Barca pay £11m but deny fraud
SPANISH champions Barcelona paid a voluntary £11.2m in tax to authorities yesterday, despite maintaining there was no wrongdoing when Neymar was signed from Santos last summer.
It is alleged Barcelona, who declared in June they had completed a £48.6m deal to sign the Brazil forward, had in fact incurred far greater costs and last week a judge in Spain formally accused the Catalan club of tax fraud.
A statement from Barcelona said: “The board denies the existence of any tax-related crime in relation to the fiscal obligations arising from the signing of the player.
“The aim [of yesterday’s payment] is to cover eventual interpretations that could be given to the contracts drawn up in operation to sign Neymar.”