La Liga president threatens PSG with legal action over Neymar pursuit

LA LIGA president Javier Tebas has threatened to take legal action against Paris Saint-Germain over their world-record £198m move for Barcelona star Neymar.

The head of the Spanish league believes elements of the proposed transfer break Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

 

In an interview with Barcelona-based newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Tebas said that if Uefa do not fully investigate the case, he will take it to the courts.

“We will [make a complaint about PSG] because they infringe Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules and also the European Union’s competition rules,” Tebas said.
“We will make a complaint to Uefa and if they don’t do anything we will take it to the competition tribunals in Switzerland and Brussels.
“And, from there, we don’t rule out going through the courts in France and Spain.
“It’s not [just to do with Neymar]. We planned [to make the complaint] earlier.
“If we’ve not done it sooner it’s because we planned to take the problem to UEFA’s people first and I said that to president [Aleksander] Ceferin, but there hasn’t been time.
“What worries me is La Liga can’t just sit around with its arms crossed. It’s not about Barca, it’s about Spanish football,” Tebas said.
“Today it is Barca but tomorrow it could be Real Madrid, Atletico or another team.”
Neymar could sign for PSG as soon as Monday after reportedly agreeing a five-year deal.
PSG are owned by the Qatar Sport Investment group and it has been reported that they are offering Neymar £270m to be an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
It is thought Neymar could then use this money to pay his own buy-out fee with Barcelona – set at 222m euros – in a bid to sidestep the FFP rules.
Tebas said he had already told PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi of his plans.
“Two months ago I received the president of PSG at La Liga’s offices and I told him what we were going to do and the reasons why,” he said.
“He was angry with me and said that he did not understand.”
In 2014, Uefa found PSG to have breached their FFP rules and placed temporary restrictions on their transfer spending and Champions League squad size.