By John Essien
Neymar’s controversial move from Santos to Barcelona has been revisited in the Spanish court over suspicions of fraud and corruption, Spanish news agency EFE reports.
The case had been discarded earlier this year due to a lack of evidence, but that decision has now been overturned.
Neymar’s transfer was the subject of an alleged fraud investigation, but Barcelona agreed to pay a fine of 5.5m euros (£4.4m) to the Spanish authorities to settle the case in June this year.
Brazilian investment company DIS, claimed it was due to a 40 percent cut of the fee which took Neymar from Santos to Camp Nou in 2013, initially claimed to be 57 million euro ($63.6M) by Barca but later revealed to be much more, with club President Josep Maria Bartomeu claiming over €100 million was spent on the deal.
The trial will take place from October 17 to 31.
Neymar was reportedly ordered to pay over €45 million in fines and back-taxes in March 2016 over alleged fraud in relation to image rights.
However, Neymar has continued to flourish on the pitch despite having the matter hanging over him.
Fench juggernauts, Paris Saint-Germain later signed the Brazilian from Barcelona, breaking the world transfer record after sealing a move of 489 million euros in 2015.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have continually been linked with a move to take Neymar back to Camp Nou — where he helped the club win a fifth Champions League title in 2014-15 — but the financial situation makes such a move impossible to conceive.
Since moving to Europe in 2013, when he joined Barcelona from Santos, Neymar has scored 205 goals in 330 appearances for Barca and PSG, with an additional 136 assists. He has also scored 74 goals in 119 games for Brazil — only Pele, with 77, has scored more goals for the five-time World Cup winners.
