Neymar faces FIVE YEARS in prison as he faces trial for fraud and corruption linked to FC Barcelona move in 2013

A BRAZILIAN investment firm has called for Neymar to be jailed for FIVE YEARS for fraud and corruption.

The 30-year-old faces a court hearing in Barcelona on Monday, just weeks before he represents Brazil at the World Cup.

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Neymar faces charges over his move from Santos to Barcelona in 2013.

The investment company DIS owned 40 percent of the rights to Neymar at the time of the transfer.

But the company argues they lost a fair share of the fee because the Paris Saint-Germain star was sold for below its value.

Barcelona then paid €57.1m (£50m) to sign Neymar from the Brazilian club, with €40m (£35m) going to his family.

DIS invested €2m (£1.7m) to buy part of the rights from Neymar when he was 17, getting a 40 per cent stake of the €17.1m (£15m) that was left left over from the transfer.

And they argue they should have gotten more money.

A DIS lawyer said yesterday: “Neymar’s rights have not been sold to the highest bidder. There were clubs that offered up to 60 million euros.”

His lawyers argued that “the rules of free competition don’t work because moving from one club to another depends on the free will of the player.”

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They added: “The player is not a service or a commodity. He is a person of his free will.”

Neymar previously denied the fraud and corruption allegations but lost an appeal in Spain’s High Court in 2017 and the trial has now been decided by the Spanish prosecutor.

He has to be there for the first day of the trial on Monday, but it is not known if he will have to stay for the entire two-week hearing.

Spanish prosecutors are demanding a two-year prison sentence for Neymar and a fine of ten million euros.

Neymar’s two parents Barcelona Santos, ex-Barca presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell and ex-Santos president Odilio Rodrigues are also on trial.

Like Neymar, Rosell has previously denied any wrongdoing.

DIS want Rosell and Bartomeu jailed along with Neymar and fined a whopping €149m (£129m).

Meanwhile, Spanish prosecutors are asking for a five-year prison sentence for Rosell and Barca are fined €8.4m (£7.3m).

Neymar’s lawyers said that Spanish courts “do not have jurisdiction to prosecute the Neymar family” because the transfer involved Brazilian nationals and took place in Brazil.

The alleged crimes are not punishable in the South American country, Neymar’s lawyers said the transfer did not violate any Fifa regulations.

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