Neymar Assets Blocked By Brazilian Authorities

The Brazilian authorities have blocked the assets of Barcelona star Neymar, including a yacht, a jet and several properties worth almost £35m. a Brazilian media reported on Monday that A Sao Paulo federal court rejected an appeal from the Brazilian striker last week and started issuing warrants to freeze the assets worth 192m reals (almost $50m).

Last year, Neymar, his family and related businesses were found guilty of evading 63m reals in taxes between 2011 and 2013 when he was playing for Brazilian club Santos. He has denied any wrongdoing. Iagaro Jung Martins, an auditor with Brazil's federal tax agency, told the Associated Press that Neymar is not likely to go to jail if he pays what regulators say he owes. “He can still appeal that decision, but it is a step forward. Nothing changed to what was in place last year: if he pays what he owes, the case is closed. Our legislation isn't too harsh” he said.

On February 2, Neymar and his father were questioned for three hours in a Madrid court over the player's transfer to Barcelona. The case was brought by Grupo Sonda, which invested in Neymar early in his career and was allegedly entitled to 40 per cent of the total transfer amount.

Barcelona maintains the deal cost the club 57.1m euros. Santos officially received a payment of 17.1m euros, with the remaining 40m euros going to a company owned by Neymar's father, Neymar Santos. But investigations in Spain later showed that Barcelona spent nearly 83.3m euros to acquire Neymar.