A Spanish court will on Friday attempt to untangle a bitter multi-million-euro contract dispute between Brazilian star striker Neymar and his former club Barcelona.
Although a court spokesman said the 27-year-old was obliged to show up person, his lawyers have said nothing although Spanish newspapers published videos of him arriving at Barcelona airport on Thursday.
His return to the city is far from the triumphant homecoming the Spanish club had hoped for after a summer locked in futile talks with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) to bring back the world's most expensive player.
On Friday morning, the two parties will attend a private half-hour session with the judge at a labour court in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, a Barcelona suburb, before the hearing begins at 10:00 am (0800 GMT).
The session is open to the public.
The dispute began when Neymar made a shock transfer to PSG in 2017, less than a year after signing a new contract with Barca which would have seen him staying there until 2021.
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Worth 222 million euros ($250 million at the time), the transfer remains the highest sum ever paid for a player.
Barcelona then sued Neymar for breach of contract, and refused to pay him the 26 million euros which were part of his contract renewal bonus.
After an unsuccessful appeal to world footballing body FIFA, the young Brazilian quickly hit back with a lawsuit over the unpaid bonus.
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