First it was Lionel Messi, now it is Neymar. Both different cases but both involve the same club. Nobody likes the taxman but is there a club that dreads him more than Barcelona?
Spain has its fair share of clubs that have problems with Hacienda, Spain’s tax authority, but no one has faced the amount of problems and publicity that Barca have. On February 13 Barca’s President Josep Maria Bartomeu will attend Madrid's Audiencia Nacional court to answer questions related to tax involved in the signing of Neymar.
Barca claim they have done nothing wrong and they have a major ally in LFP President Javier Tebas. So are they innocent and why is Tebas standing up for Los Cules so much these days?
“Barca did nothing wrong,” said Bartomeu earlier this week when he faced the Press. “We signed Neymar advised by great offices like Cuatrecasas. Everything was done well,” he continued. “It does not bother us that they accuse us, but that the judge charges us. That has angered us a lot. We would continue doing everything exactly the same. We did not commit any crimes.”
Is he right? When Barca signed Neymar they said they paid for €57m and they also criticised Real Madrid for spending so much on Gareth Bale. But, some things didn’t add up and despite the club trying to explain them, one man wasn’t convinced and pushed for answers.
Jordi Cases may have been seen as just a chemist but he was a socio at Barca and wanted answers. He fought and eventually got them. They say that Neymar was the man that brought down a President [Sandro Rosell] but it was really Cases. In the end Barca released the full details of the deal which they claimed was just under €85m, although some still dispute that figure.
The deal was a very strange one but the club believed the explanations they had given would end the controversy. Cases was reported to have spoken to Bartomeu at the end of 2014 and, having accepted the club’s explanation for what they said ‘was complicated but legal,’ he was believed to have dropped his case. But, the Spanish taxman was not going to go away so easily.
The public prosecutor claims money is still owed to the state. In February 2014, Barca surprised people when they announced they were paying extra tax, over €10m, as a ‘just in case’ measure. Questions of why they would do this if they were completely innocent were raised. Things died down on the Neymar front but then all the focus was on Messi and his issues with Hacienda.
Whilst the Argentine’s problems had nothing to do with his club, Barca’s name was still mentioned at every moment. As is often the case, conspiracy theories were raised everywhere with one reporter from a pro-Barca paper claiming a number of Real Madrid players had been contacted like Messi about overdue taxes.
Like Messi, they paid but unlike the four-time Ballon D’Or winner, their cases disappeared. This all may be true but without any evidence, it has fallen on deaf ears. With Neymar’s case resurfacing, once again the conspiracy theorists are at full throttle and Bartomeu is leading from the front.
“It’s the big question. What’s going on? Neymar had two offers, one from Madrid and one from Barca. Neymar was playing well a year ago and out comes [Jordi Cases’] complaint,” Bartomeu said. “Maybe somebody didn’t like it. Now he’s playing well again and there’s another judicial action.”
Barca have also said they feel that they are being punished for political reasons. Bartomeu added that he believed the surge for Catalan independence or at least the desire to have a vote on it has seen Barca punished by the state. Last September they allowed a pro-independence concert to take place in Camp Nou, and played in the Catalan flag colours on September 11, even though they were at home.
But Barca are not alone. When FIFA handed down a transfer embargo because they breached rules on signing underage players, one man of authority stood by the club. He has done so again this week, claiming that Barca had until the January 31 to pay all tax for 2014 and that it was wrong of the prosecutor to bring charges before that deadline had passed. The man in question is Javier Tebas, who seems to be constantly by Barca’s side lately. But why?
Tebas is the LFP President but he has been very outspoken lately against the RFEF President, Angel Maria Villar. Villar has been criticised recently and some believe that the time for change has come. Many feel Tebas has eyes for the top job and for that reason is trying to make allies should he run.
In a recent meeting with the Spanish Sports Minister, Villar was alleged to have described Tebas in profane terms. Tebas has not taken that well and as allegations of incompetence and corruption continue to circle around Villar, the President of the League could feel the time is right to strike.
It could be argued that he might risk alienating other clubs by standing so close to Barca, although Villar was re-elected by doing something similar and from there the ‘Villarato’ conspiracy theory was born.
Right now Barca are preparing to answer the prosecutor’s questions. They claim they will prove they are 100% innocent but the club may find that sympathy from non-supporters is not very forthcoming. One reason is that the club have cried wolf or conspiracy one too many times and unfortunately for them, if this is the occasion where the wolf is really around, many aren’t that interested.
The image of the club has been damaged, but how much? Time will tell but with elections this summer, the person who steps in will have a hell of a job restoring the public face. Five years ago they were the club that were seen as the greatest ever. Now they seem to go from one scandal to another. There may be some truth to the conspiracy theories but only the naïve would believe that Barca’s recent problems are all down to that.
Fans will be hoping that Barca, one of the world’s biggest clubs, can finally draw a line under its problems and make headlines for the right reasons.
