International Football
Barcelona Unwilling to Pay €26m to Neymar’s Father
The news is all over France that in the next couple of hours, the player who has made the most news in the current summer transfer window, Neymar Jr will be a player of Paris Saint-German. On the other hand in Barcelona, FC Barcelona’s players are reportedly fed up with the Neymar saga.
Sports Village Square reliably gather from Spanish publication, Marca, that FC Barcelona is doing everything possible to avoid paying the player’s father the 26 million euro that was agreed last year as part of a renewal premium.
Sports Village Square had earlier reported that Neymar Jr had deliberately avoided making his stand known in the transfer saga to enable his father collect the money from the club he is leaving while almost instantly his father, who has been promised a lucrative ambassadorial role for the Qatar 2022 World Cup by the Qatari current owners of Paris Saint-Germain, will also pocket another 32 million euro making a total of €62 million bounty harvest. .
FC Barcelona, according to Marca, will still deposit the €36 million in a notary’s office to be paid only if Neymar stays. The payment of the money is what is likely to delay Neymar Jr imminent departure from Barcelona.
The Neymar transfer operation has become more and more bitter as the days have passed, and even journalists are beginning to get fed up with the lack of concrete information being passed to them.
“At least be polite,” was the only message given to members of the media that had gathered at Barcelona airport on Sunday. The father and representative of the striker from São Paulo landed with a tired face after a direct flight from Miami.
“He had not spoken in America about his son’s future and was not going to do it back to Barcelona either. Better to keep his mouth shut to focus on the final phase of what will be the transfer of summer”, is account given by the Spanish Marca.
A transfer that promises to deliver more than 200m Euros into Barcelona’s coffers, a record in the history of football. No agent has had more influence on a player’s career than Neymar’s father.
FC Barcelona have also had to pay him €2.7millon in commission, €10m of the initial transfer premium and other amounts (to distribute over five years) for publicity, to promote social media and to look for talents in Brazil. Negotiating the payment method with the agreement for Paris Saint-Germain, Neymar Da Silva still wants to ensure he receives the 26m Euros he agreed to renew his son with Barcelona.
This agreement was based on the pressure that PSG exercised last year, and it was designed to stop them getting Neymar this time last summer. He could use an agreement between clubs, but that seems complicated without Marco Verratti entering the equation. Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Khelaifi expressed optimism to the club’s executives.”Neymar’s signing is going well, I have confidence,” he is to have said, according to Yahoo Sports France.
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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