Barcelona will go to a territory untouched for years just to make sure that Brazilian superstar Neymar will switch sides in the summer. The Spanish giants want the striker to return and leave Paris Saint-Germain and to make it happen, the club will resort to FIFA's Article 17, which will permit Neymar to walk away from an existing contract.
As a sign that it is dead serious on the mission to bring back the Brazil international, the Catalonia club has hired Wouter Lambrech to take charge of the heavy lifting required for the work. Lambrech is a highly-regarded lawyer from Belgium and he was brought in to make the expected legal tussle in favor of Barcelona.
The Sun reported that the meat of Lambrech's work has to do with how the so-called Webster Ruling can be utilized for the Neymar transfer.
The case pertains to the controversial transfer of footballer Andy Webster to the Premier League in 2006. Convinced that he has served more than three years of his contract then, Webster invoked Article 17 to force his move out, which resulted in a drawn-out legal battle.
In the end, Webster obtained a ruling that favored his action but he was meted a fine of £150,000 for the trouble caused. It would appear that Barcelona's battle plan will replicate the Webster Ruling but to cut short the legal fight and to minimize the financial cost.
The move, however, will amount to the Catalan giants breaching an unspoken agreement between football clubs, according to Sport Bible. As the process is fraught with too much trouble for all parties concerned, Article 17 has not been used for a decade now.
The reason is for clubs to avoid unnecessary battles but it seemed now that Barcelona will be gearing up for a fight if only to convince PSG that releasing Neymar to Barca would be a wise decision. Apparently, the Spanish side is only giving the Parisians a dose of their own medicine.
Per the same report, Barcelona felt slighted that Neymar was lured to a £198 million transfer in 2017 and PSG willingly bypassed the Catalans for proper negotiation. So Barca is doing the same this year and the timing is just appropriate is Neymar will have served the third year of his PSG contract by the end of June 2020.
It is no secret that Neymar's Barcelona homecoming has always been in the cards for the club. Even Lionel Messi is convinced that he will soon play alongside the Brazilian star again, indicating recently that the striker "is really looking forward to coming back.
Reports said that in preparation for Neymar's return, Barcelona will be raising cash by selling key players such as Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann.
