Will Neymar Transfer Case Claims Take Their Toll on Barcelona's Brazilian Star?

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." Neymar may never have seen The Godfather: Part III, but if he has, that's the line that will be running through his head now. 

The Brazilian was weighed down by the trouble surrounding his transfer last season, with that being one of many reasons that we didn't get to see him at his best in Barcelona colours.

And now, with the Barcelona No. 11 thriving at long last, he's been roped back into the debate over whether or not his transfer was legal and how much it set Barcelona back.

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Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has been charged with tax fraud, per Sport, after documents released on Monday claimed Neymar cost €94.9 million instead of the €57.1 million initially claimed.

Barcelona themselves also disagree with the legal proceedings and released a statement about the affair. Sport wrote:

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Firstly, the club express their 'surprise and indignation' at the 'prosecutor’s petition for the Club and its former president Sandro Rosell to face trial for presumed misdemeanors' when signing the Brazilian.

Secondly, they reveal their 'utter disagreement' with the decision taken in respect to current president Bartomeu.

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Bartomeu has also hinted that this is to do with football as well as legal issues.

Per the Guardian, he seemed to suggest that Real Madrid had a hand in the Neymar deal being hauled through the muck again. Bartomeu said:

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Other clubs wanted to sign Neymar paying more money but they didn’t manage it and they didn’t like that. Someone now has overstepped the line.

I’m not saying Madrid are behind this but Neymar’s father told me that there were two offers: Barca and Madrid. Madrid wanted to buy him and were ready to pay more for him.

A year ago Neymar was playing well and then all this fuss suddenly came up. Maybe somebody doesn’t like him. Now again he is playing well and there is another judicial process.

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But unlike last season, when Neymar also had to adapt to both the city of Barcelona and playing in a team of a far higher level than he was used to, there are no other distractions.

The impending World Cup was also another problem for some players, and with Neymar expected to carry the hopes of Brazil on his shoulders, perhaps he was worried about burning out before the big tournament.

As it happens, he starred on his own turf in the summer, before his campaign was cruelly ended by a knee in the back as Brazil played Colombia in the quarter-finals.

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He missed the next game, against Germany, where the Selecao were thrashed 7-1 and came back to Barcelona with a point to prove.

The way he has come back from that disappointment to play spectacularly for Luis Enrique shows that he's matured and has grown in character.

Neymar has 22 goals and four assists in 25 games so far, and there's no reason they should dry up.

So while the transfer case isn't going to help the Brazilian, he's developed enough so that it shouldn't hinder him too much, either.