Neymar case brings Rosell down

Barca president resigns in wake of legal action.

MADRID: Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, facing legal action over the signing of Brazil star Neymar, resigned after a three-and-a-half year spell in charge of the Spanish champions on Thursday.

Pressure had mounted on Rosell, 49, after a judge agreed on Wednesday to hear a case made against him by one of the club’s own members for alleged misappropriation of funds in the deal which brought Neymar to the Camp Nou last year.

Sporting vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu will replace Rosell as president for the remainder of the board’s mandate, which runs until 2016.



Rosell once again defended his position on the Neymar signing by describing the complaint made against him as reckless.

“From the first day I have said that the signing of Neymar was done correctly and it has provoked jealousy from some of our rivals,” he told a press conference at the Camp Nou.

“I don’t want an unjustified attack to negatively affect the image of the club and therefore I believe my time at the club has come to an end.

“I have presented my irrevocable resignation to the board.”

Bartomeu will now take over and dismissed rumours earlier in the day that presidential elections could be called in June.

“My first message as the new president of Barca is to announce the continuity of our project until 2016,” he said.

“We continue with the utmost commitment to maintain the sporting, economic and social excellence of our club.”  Rosell has routinely insisted that Neymar cost the club €57.1 million, but refused to divulge how much money each of the parties to the deal received on confidentiality grounds.

That led Jordi Cases to launch the case against Rosell last month for not informing the club’s members as €40 million of the fee was supposedly paid to a business owned by Neymar and his father called N&N.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2014.

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