Barcelona and Neymar are likely to face each other in court again. El Mundo writes on Wednesday that the club is demanding the repayment of an amount of 10.2 million euros through the judiciary. After an investigation by the Spanish tax authorities, it appeared that Barcelona in the past withheld less tax from the attacker than was usual and therefore paid more salary. Barcelona now wants to reclaim the amount through a lawsuit.

Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017 for 222 million euros, but since then both parties have actually been in constant legal battle with each other. For example, the Brazilian international was already told a few months ago that he had to pay back 6.7 million euros to Barcelona. The dispute concerned the signing bonus for a contract extension of Neymar with the Catalans in 2016, a year before his still record transfer to the Parisians.

Neymar believed he was entitled to 43.65 million euros as a signing premium, after he had extended his contract until mid-2021, with an option for an additional year. Since he only served a small portion of the commitment, the club refused to pay. Barcelona in turn demanded 22 million euros from Neymar for breach of contract. The judge partly agreed with the Catalans’ reading and sentenced the attacker to a payment of 6.7 million.

Neymar played for Barcelona between 2013 and 2017. He was a successful vanguard for years with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, scoring 105 goals in 186 official games. After two league titles and wins of the Champions League and the World Cup for club teams, the Brazilian decided to leave as he no longer wanted to be in Messi’s shadow and a serious contender to win the Ballon d’Or. The latter has not been successful since then.

Neymar has been regularly linked to a return to Barcelona in recent years. Especially in the summer transfer period of 2019, interest seemed mutual, but PSG demanded the main prize for the dribbler and the Catalans dropped out. Since then, the relationship between Neymar and Barcelona has only been under pressure due to the legal dispute. The Brazilian is currently negotiating a contract with PSG after June 30, 2022.