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| Neymar |
The 21-year-old was officially paraded as a Barca player at the Camp Nou earlier on Monday after the club reached an agreement with his old club Santos and the player himself last month.
And Bartomeu ended speculation about how much the Spanish champions had paid for Neymar, although he refused to specify how much each of the parties involved in the deal had received individually on confidentiality grounds.
“Barcelona have all the sporting and economic rights of the player,” he told a press conference.
“This operation, at a cost of 57 million euros, has been done without intermediaries or agents just with the four companies involved.”
Of the 57 million, Barca had already paid 10 last year in anticipation of sealing the deal for around 40 million euros in total.
However, Bartomeu admitted the late interest shown by rivals Real Madrid and another club had made the deal more expensive.
“The operation has been made more expensive due to the interest of other clubs that interfered in the signing of Neymar.
“It was forseen that Neymar would arrive in 2014. To bring the move forward we have had to pay this 17 million euros more.”
Bartomeu also confirmed as part of the deal Barca will play two friendlies against Santos, with one taking place at the Camp Nou and the other in Brazil, whilst the player’s buyout clause will be 190 million euros.
The player himself meanwhile reflected on what he described as a “dream” move.
“I am realising my lifelong dream, the dream to play with players that I have admired my whole life,” he said.
And he believes that rather than finding it difficult to fit in, playing alongside the likes of World Player of the Year Lionel Messi should be a blessing.
“It is an honour to play alongside the best player in the world in Leo Messi. It should be easier to play alongside him because he is the best.”
The Brazilian also said that whilst he was flattered by the interest shown in him by Madrid, there was never any doubt that he would end up in the Catalan capital.
“Real Madrid is a great club and I respect them, but I chose Barca because my heart was with Barca and I am here today.
“My family and I have never been moved by money, for me happiness is very important and I am happy at Barca.”
And he is confident that his style of play will be easily transferable to the more physically demanding game in Europe.
“Adapting will be difficult, but I think I will adapt quickly. I have already had experience in the national team where things are different.
“I am going to play my type of football. I hope that everything will go well and that I can bring much joy to the fans from the first minute.
“I know that at Barca I am going to learn and evolve a lot.”
The club’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta also hailed the signing of the Brazilian prodigy and echoed Neymar’s words that there would be no problem fitting he and Messi into the same system.
“Neymar has a style that fits perfectly into ours,” he said.
“It is never a problem to have too much talent or too many good players.”
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