Neymar tells fraud trial he signed documents his father told him to

Agencies | Barcelona

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Brazil superstar Neymar said Tuesday his manager father always handled his contracts as he took the stand at his trial in Spain over alleged irregularities in his transfer to Barcelona in 2013.

“My father has always been in charge” of contract negotiations, the 30-year-old told the Barcelona court hearing the case.

“I sign what he tells me to.” He also said he did not remember if he took part in the negotiations which led to an agreement sealed in 2011 with Barcelona over his transfer two years later to the Catalan side from Brazilian club Santos.

Spanish prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison term for Neymar, a key member of the Brazil team that will be heading to the World Cup in Qatar next month, and the payment of a 10-million-euro ($9.7 million) fine.

The trial is the culmination of a years-long legal saga over Neymar’s 2013 move from Santos to Barcelona.

He then joined Qatar-owned PSG in a world record 222-million-euro transfer in 2017.

Neymar is one of nine defendants on trial on corruption-related charges, among them his parents and their N&N company, which manages his affairs.

He had originally been set to testify on either October 21 or 28 but the Barcelona court hearing the case agreed to bring forward his hearing to avoid a clash with his commitments with PSG.

The player spent two hours at the court on Monday on the opening day of the trial before he was excused by the judge after his lawyers argued he needed to rest after playing Sunday night.

The player scored the only goal of the Ligue 1 match against Marseille. Investigators began probing the transfer after a 2015 complaint filed by DIS, a Brazilian company that owned 40 percent of the player’s sporting rights when he was at Santos.