Posted on: 09:57 Sat, 02 Jul 2016



Barcelona have announced that
Neymar has signed a new five-year
contract with the club.

The Brazil captain’s buyout clause
has been fixed at €200 million for
the first year of the deal, €222m for
the second and €250m for the
remaining three years.

Neymar’s future had been the
subject of much speculation over
the last 12 months, with both the
player’s camp and the Barca board
regularly saying a new deal was
close but not done yet.

Amid such uncertainty there were
rumours that Manchester United,
Paris Saint-Germain and Real
Madrid were keen to pay his
previous €190m release clause,
while legal issues around Neymar’s
2013 arrival at the Camp Nou
continued.

A recent pact between Barca and
the Spanish tax authorities
appeared to bring an agreement
closer, and on Thursday Blaugrana
president Josep Maria Bartomeu
said that a new contract would be
announced “today, tomorrow, or
very soon,” with the player himself
then tweeting that he was “very
happy to continue living this
dream.”

On Friday, there was confirmation
from the Catalan club’s website that
the deal had been signed and
Neymar would visit Barcelona on
July 15 for a formal presentation
before he heads to the Olympics in
Rio de Janeiro to represent Brazil.

“FC Barcelona and the player
Neymar Jr. have signed a contract
extension for the footballer which
will keep him at the club for the
next five seasons, until June 30,
2021,” the club statement read.

“The player’s buyout clause has
been fixed at €200m for the first
year of his contract, €222m for the
second and €250m for the
remaining three years. On July 15
in Barcelona, before the player
joins up with the Brazilian national
side for the Olympic Games, the
agreement will be presented
formally.”

Reports in Spain claim that
Neymar’s new net salary will be
€15m a year, well below the totals
earned annually by teammate
Lionel Messi and Real Madrid star
Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, there was a public row in
Brazil this week over whether his
new salary might make him the
world’s highest-earning player.

Over three seasons with Barcelona,
Neymar has scored 85 goals in 141
games, and has won one Champion
League, two La Liga titles, two Copa
del Reys, one UEFA Super Cup, one
Spanish Super Cup and one FIFA
Club World Cup.