'Ludicrous' Neymar party clause revealed as former Barcelona ace gifted rare contract leeway

Neymar demanded a "ludicrous" clause in his contract during his time as a Barcelona player.

The Brazilian was a massive hit in La Liga, wracking up three league titles and a Champions League winner's medal. His greatest moment came in the historic 6-1 defeat of PSG in the Champions League last 16 after his team somehow recovered from 4-0 down in the first leg. But sometimes talent comes with requirements - and the magical playmaker is no different.

The Brazilian had a famous party boy image in Catalonia and even controversially missed a number of key games at the same time every season to join up with his sister Rafaella Santos on her birthday. Neymar would be unavailable on around March 11 every year since 2013. But now it has been revealed that there was a literal clause in his Barca contract that indulged the Brazilian trickster to the nth degree.

Daniel Geey, a leading sports lawyer, was a guest on The Overlap podcast to run the rule over the intricacies of Liverpool’s contract strategies, how top clubs structure player deals, navigate salary caps, and adhering to the shadow that is Financial Fair Play (FFP) and Premier League Salary Rules (PSR). Geey was quizzed by Jamie Carragher on the most "ludicrous" contract clauses he had ever seen.

"The best one I saw was Neymar's one at Barcelona," he said. "When he was there he apparently had a clause that said every month he could have eight of his best mates coming over from Brazil to have a party in Barcelona. I'd have loved to have been able to have drafted that party clause. That would have been a good one!"

The former La Liga ace moved onto PSG for a world record £200m in 2017 after his eye-watering buyout clause was met. After a disastrous big money stint in the