Barça president Bartomeu to Judge Ruz: ‘Tito Vilanova asked us to sign Neymar a year earlier’

Cadena SER in Spain have disclosed a video of the interrogation of Josep Maria Bartomeu by Judge Ruz on Feburay 13, 2015 in which the Barça president confirms that the signing of Neymar by the club was a request by the then first team coach, Tito Vilanova. As mentioned in AS, in the video and […]
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sambafoot_admin
2015-03-28 16:12:00

Cadena SER in Spain have disclosed a video of the interrogation of Josep Maria Bartomeu by Judge Ruz on Feburay 13, 2015 in which the Barça president confirms that the signing of Neymar by the club was a request by the then first team coach, Tito Vilanova.

As mentioned in AS, in the video and audio clips which Cadena SER made public, Bartomeu attributes the signing of the Brazilian player to Vilanova.

Bartomeu was quoted: “We spoke to our coach, who at that time was Tito Vilanova, and he asked me and the then president, if we could bring forward the signing of Neymar by one year as he felt that the team needed a player with his characteristics. He wanted to make the signing in 2013 instead of bringing him over in the summer of 2014. The plan for the Neymar was to finish the World Cup in Brazil and then move to Barcelona but we wanted to carry out the wishes of the coach. Sandro Rosell, had a good relationship with his father, spoke to him and we saw how they’d forged a deal to bring him to Barcelona a year ahead of what was originally scheduled.”