Neymar's Barcelona dispute no longer being investigated by FIFA

Published on: 23 February 2018

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen tells ESPN the difference manager Ernesto Valverde has made to Barcelona. Neymar's close control in the Strasbourg penalty area puts PSG back in front at the Parc des Princes. Shaka Hislop feels everyone at PSG is bending over backward to appease Neymar and agrees with Walter Casagrande's claim that the €222 million man is 'spoiled' by the media.

FIFA has closed its investigation into the dispute between Neymar and Barcelona over the unpaid renewal bonus that surfaced when the Brazil international moved to Paris Saint-Germain last summer.

World football's governing body say they will not be taking the matter any further because the Brazilian has filed a "parallel [complaint] before different jurisdictions."

Neymar originally made the complaint to FIFA in August, but in January, El Mundo reported that he had also filed a lawsuit with the Spanish courts against the Catalan club in relation to the same case.

As a result, FIFA confirmed on Friday that they are no longer in a position to continue with their investigation.

"After having been made aware that, apparently, the same matter had been submitted in parallel before different jurisdictions by the same party, the FIFA administration informed the parties to the dispute that based on the long-standing and well-established jurisprudence of FIFA's deciding bodies, it did not seem to be in a position to continue with the investigation of the affair," a spokesman said.

"The proceedings were therefore closed for formal reasons."

Neymar filed a complaint with both FIFA and the Spanish courts.

Neymar believes he is entitled to €26 million, which Barca were due to pay him last summer as the second part of a bonus for the contract renewal he signed earlier that season.

The club had already said they would not be paying the bonus and later announced they would be suing Neymar for a breach of contract.

The fallout stems from the five-year deal the 26-year-old signed with Barca in October 2016.

In addition to the bonus he was paid at the time -- the amount of which has not yet been made public by Neymar or Barcelona but is reported to have been around €14m -- he was due to receive a second payment last summer before his world-record move to France. Barca spokesman Josep Vives explained the club's reasoning for not making the payment at the time.

"There were three conditions," he said. "One, that the player didn't negotiate with another club before July 31; two, that he publicly expressed his decision to fulfill his contract; and three, the payment was to be made on Sept. 1 to ensure he didn't go to another club."

A final decision on the case will now be made by the Spanish courts.

Samuel Marsden covers Barcelona for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @SamuelMarsden.

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Source: espn.co.uk

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