Barcelona paid 13.55 million euros ($18.6 million) to Spanish tax authorities on Monday to cover any potential irregularities in its signing of Neymar, all the while maintaining its innocence of the fraud charges levied against it.
The Spanish champion said in a statement it had paid the “complimentary” amount to cover any “eventual interpretations that could come out of the contracts signed relating to the transfer of Neymar. Meanwhile we are convinced of the legality of our initial fulfilment relating to our tax obligations.”
Barcelona’s actions take the price of Neymar’s transfer to more than 100 million euros ($138 million) after the Catalan club initially said it had paid 57.1 million euros ($74 million) for the Brazil forward.