Barcelona sues Neymar to return 10 million euros

Barcelona will sue Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar for returning 10.2 million euros that the club believes it paid in excess to the Brazilian while he was in its ranks, according to a report by El Mundo newspaper on Wednesday.

Neymar played for Barcelona between 2013 and 2017 before moving to the French capital in a historic deal for 222 million euros.

But according to the Spanish "El Mundo", an inspection conducted by the tax office in Spain showed that Barcelona "did not make appropriate reductions when paying Neymar's taxes, according to an inspection conducted on Barcelona that lasted until 2015."

The report added that Spain's tax office calculated that Neymar had benefited from "unfair enrichment."

A Barcelona source confirmed to AFP that the club would now seek to recover the amount owed.

Neymar is the one who owes more unpaid taxes to the Spanish authorities, amounting to 34.6 million euros, according to an official document issued in September.

Spanish financial authorities are also investigating the two transfers of Neymar, from Brazilian Santos to Camp Nou in 2013, and his accession to Paris Saint-Germain four years later.

In between, Neymar renewed his contract with the Catalan team in 2016, and included a loyalty bonus of 26 million euros, which Barcelona refused to pay after leaving for the "Parc de Prince".

A Spanish court ruled in Barcelona's favor last June, asking Neymar to pay the club 6.79 million euros.

Despite their legal differences, Barcelona made several attempts to return Neymar to its ranks, but a new attempt seems impossible at the present time, given the financial problems that Barcelona suffers as a result of the repercussions of the new Corona virus pandemic, and the French club's announcement of the start of negotiations to extend the contract of his Brazilian star.

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