Neymar considering FIFA complaint

Barcelona are refusing to pay a £23 million bonus owed to Neymar’s father after the player’s contract renewal at the Camp Nou. Josep Vives, spokesperson for the Catalan club, told Marca: ‘The club will not pay the bonus to Neymar’s father’.

As reported by Sky Sports, the most expensive signing of all time feels ‘very bad’ over the unpaid loyalty bonus, and the player and his lawyers are considering lodging a complaint to world football’s governing body.

FIFA refused to comment on a specific case, but they told Sky Sports: ‘As a general rule, and without prejudice to the right of any player or club to seek redress before a civil court for employment-related disputes, the decision-making bodies of FIFA would be competent unless the parties have explicitly agreed for such dispute to be decided by an independent arbitration tribunal’.

Barcelona, however, stand their ground. as Josep Vives said: ‘There were three conditions: the player must not negotiate his departure from the club during the month before the bonus became payable, he must demonstrate his desire to fulfil his contract, and that we would not pay out the bonus before September 1, to ensure the transfer window was closed’.

The player did not fulfill the conditions after sealing a £198m move to PSG: ‘Now that we know that none of these three conditions were met, we will not honour that bonus’, the Barcelona spokesman said.