Prosecutors seek two years in prison for Neymar for corruption in his transfer to Barcelona

Brazilian star Neymar will go to trial next October, due to alleged irregularities in the process of his transfer to the Spanish football club Barcelona in 2013, according to a judicial source said Wednesday.

Neymar and former Barcelona presidents Sandro Russell and Josep Maria Bartomeu will be tried on charges of "corruption" in the deal to sign the current striker for French club Paris Saint-Germain from his former Brazilian club Santos in 2013.

The trial will take place from 17 to 31 October.

The case was opened based on a complaint filed by the Brazilian group "DIS", which owned part of the player's rights, after it considered itself affected by the move to the Catalan club.

An investigation into the case began in January 2014 after it was found that there were contradictions in some of the documents requested by the authorities.

Barcelona initially agreed to pay 57.1 million euros (40 million to the player's family and 17.1 to his former club Santos), in exchange for his services, but according to the calculations of the Spanish judiciary, the value of the deal amounted to at least 83 million.

And the "DIS" group, which obtained 6 million from the amount paid to the Brazilian club, considered that Barcelona and Neymar agreed to hide the true value of this deal.

The Public Prosecution demanded a two-year prison sentence for Neymar.

The player said before the judge that he came to Spain to play football only, and that he trusted his father, his agent.

Neymar moved in the summer of 2017 from Barcelona to Saint-Germain, in a deal worth 222 million euros, and made him the most expensive player in the world.

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