Neymar assets frozen by court in Brazil

A court in Brazil has ordered assets belonging to Barcelona star Neymar to be frozen.

The federal court in Sao Paulo announced it is issuing warrants to freeze assets reported to include a yacht, a private jet and a number of properties, amounting to a total of just under €45million.

Neymar’s family and associated businesses are accused of evading taxes between 2011 and 2013, while the 24-year-old played for Santos. He denies any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors are understood to be demanding a payment of close to €14m in order to cover allegedly unpaid taxes. A complete repayment would render the case closed, according to Brazil’s tax authority.

Neymar appeared in court in Spain earlier this month as part of an unrelated investigation into alleged financial mismanagement concerning his transfer from Santos to Barcelona.

Brazilian investment group DIS claim they lost money owed to them as part of the deal as the true cost of the transfer was withheld. Neymar, his father, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and predecessor Sandro Rosell deny any wrongdoing.