Barcelona President’s statement in doubt after Enriquez Negreira payments reach €6.7m

News of Barcelona’s business relationship with Enriquez Negreira continues to filter out, as the waters get increasingly muddier.

The former Vice-President of the Technical Committee of Referees was initially reported to have earned €1.4m from Barcelona for scouting reports and refereeing assessments over the course of three years between 2016 and 2018.

El Mundo (via Marca) now say that the relationship between the two extended much further, dating back to the 2001-02 season. The payments are also much larger, with the figure supposedly reaching €6.659m over that period until 2018.

After Negreira lost his position as VP in 2018, shortly after which Barcelona ended their relationship with him. Negreira then attempted to blackmail the club with the threat of leaking ‘irregularities’ to the press.

Barcelona and Joan Laporta have insisted that their relationship was normal. It also calls into question statements from former President Joan Gaspart (2000-2003), who claimed he did not know of any payments to Negreira, despite the fact ‘Presidents know all of the payments made’.

La Liga President Javier Tebas explained publicly that Barcelona would not face sporting sanctions regardless of what was revealed, due to a statute of limitations which prevents any such action after three years.

With the advent of further news on El Caso Negreira, further questions are being asked of Barcelona and their relationship with Dansil 95, Negreira’s company. Bizarrely, it seems unlikely that there will be any deeper investigation into the matter, other than the one being carried out by the tax authorities into Negreira’s finances.