La Liga rejects the cheque Neymar, delaying his transfer

Photo: Hector Retamal
Neymar, player-star of FC Barcelona

The Spanish football League was rejected Thursday the cheque for 222 million euros, which was supposed to release Neymar in the Barça, delaying the most expensive transfer in the history of football to the Paris Saint-Germain.

The experts in the sports law interviewed by the AFP, however, believe that la Liga will not be able to disrupt the operation.

“The legal representatives of the player are presented with the la Liga to deposit [the amount of money required by] clause, which was rejected,” said a spokesman of the League to the AFP.

In Spain, it is the player who pays the clause of discharge to the Liga, which itself is responsible for transferring the money to the club seller. But it is, in fact, the club buyer — the PSG in this case — that advance the sum to the player.

The president of la Liga, Javier Tebas, who had announced that he will refuse the check, is conducting a major offensive in the media against the PSG, which is owned by a sovereign wealth fund of wealthy Qatar, which he presents as a “club-State” engaged in ” doping “financial.

In response, the French league (LFP) has formally requested in a communiqué to his Spanish counterpart not to block the transfer, saying “support” the PSG.

“We do not have the objective of preventing the transfer,” assured Javier Tebas, in an interview Thursday to French sports daily’s Team, but ” that Paris will be sanctioned by UEFA on the sports field and he stops to have income fictitious “. Javier Tebas also speaks already to bring the matter before the directorate-general for competition of the european Commission, the UEFA, the courts…

“The League is an entity that represents the interests of the clubs and in the present case, it defends the Barça “, said the lawyer Marcos Galera, a founding member of the law firm of specialists in the sport, Agaz. “But if we stick to the letter of the Spanish legislation […], when we agreed to an indemnification clause, we must respect it “, says the lawyer.

For Javier Ferrero, from law firm Senn Ferrero specializes in the law of the sport, the player Neymar “is perfectly within his rights to terminate his contract by the payment clause” and ” the Liga should not oppose it “.

“All of this may lead to a possible sanction of the PSG, we will see but it is another thing,” he says, referring to possible sanctions from UEFA for breach of financial fair play.

The solution FIFA

The PSG and Neymar can in any case drop the 222 million to a notary and ask for an international certificate of transfer to FIFA.

“The PSG and Neymar have the opportunity to turn to FIFA to allow a provisional transfer, although there may be claims, disputes, conflict,” summarizes Me Ferrero. “What that premium in the standards of the FIFA is that the players should have the opportunity to play and work. “

Clubs can be sanctioned by UEFA under the financial fair play (FPF), if they accumulate losses that exceed the € 30 million in three years.

PSG had already been sanctioned by UEFA in 2014 for violations of the rules of the FPS.

But UEFA points out that the agreement between Neymar and the PSG does not violate necessarily these rules : “The transfer of Neymar to PSG will have an impact on the finances of the club over several years but it cannot be assessed in advance because, inter alia, that the PSG could sell several players for a significant amount,” said UEFA in an email to AFP.

Barça and Real Madrid have dominated the champions League over the past four years, but Javier Tebas says that he does not defend the only Spanish clubs.

“What is of concern to the League is that the clubs-the States that benefit from doping to financial can destabilize professional football in Europe, the international market and the competitions. This is not only the problem of Spain or La Liga, but the football business in europe, ” he explained on Wednesday to the Spanish daily AS.