Florentino Perez, Real Madrid’s president, has issued a strongly worded statement denying any involvement in the legal and media storm surrounding Neymar’s transfer from Santos to Barcelona last summer.
Catalan radio station RAC1 claimed on Monday evening that Perez was the driving force behind the investigation into the financing of the deal. Barcelona member Jordi Cases has taken legal action against the club over the deal.
It emerged last week that the cost of the transfer was much more than the 57 million euros Barcelona claimed they paid at the time. Neymar’s parents received a sum of 34 million euros, while Santos only 14 million of the reported 120 million actually paid. Vast somes of money were also spent on paying agent fees, marketing and wages.
The revelation saw Barcelona president Sandro Rosell step down from his role, to be replaced on an interim basis by Josep Bartomeu. And Perez denied he nor Real Madrid had anything to do with the embarrassing situation for the La Liga champions, and demanded an immediate retraction from the radio station and journalist involved.
A statement on Real Madrid’s official website read: “In the light of the serious allegations made last night on RAC 1 by the journalist Xavi Bosch, the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, wishes to make the following statement:
“1. The allegations are totally false and they absurdly try to involve the president of Real Madrid in the legal proceedings started by a member of FC Barcelona against the club’s then president, Sandro Rosell.
“2. The president of Real Madrid demands that the journalist who made these false allegations issue a clear and immediate rectification on the same radio station.
“3. If this rectification is not made, the president of Real Madrid will sue this journalist in order to protect his honour, his privacy and his reputation. To this end, he has instructed his lawyers to study the content of these allegations.”
