How did the Neymar deal bring down Rosell?

The Blaugrana president stepped down from his post on Thursday, a day after a judge announced that the investigation into the transfer is set to continue in court

NEWS FEATURE
By Adrian Boullosa & Ben Hayward

Just one day after a judge announced that the investigation into Neymar's move from Santos to Barcelona will continue in a Spanish High Court, Blaugrana president Sandro Rosell has handed in his resignation.

Barca bought Neymar for a fee of €57.1 million in May of last year, but only €17.1m of that went to Santos, with third-party owners originally believed to have claimed the rest.

However, supermarket chain DIS say they never received their share and Barca have since admitted paying the €40m to the company co-owned by Neymar and his father, N&N.

Rosell claimed on Monday that Barcelona have "nothing to hide" over the transfer, but the Catalan club have been unable to fully explain the €40m payment and a Spanish prosecutor has now requested further documents from the current Liga leaders after claims last week that the player's contract may be 'fake'.

Barca moved quickly to deny those accusations, but prosecutors remain unconvinced by the documentation facilitated by the Catalan club and the investigation is set to continue in court. "There are sufficient grounds to carry on with the investigation," judge Pablo Ruz said on Wednesday.

And on Thursday, Barca called an emergency board meeting in which Rosell told colleagues he no longer wanted to lead the Catalan club for the remainder of his mandate, which was due to run until elections in 2016. The decision was later announced officially at a press conference at Camp Nou, with Bartomeu to take over with immediate effect.

The new man immediately vowed to defend the Catalan club against the accusations in the Neymar case, but faces a fight to clean up the club's image. Here, Omojes looks at the ins and outs of the saga, plus possible further ramifications for Rosell and Barca.