La Liga rejects Neymar's €222m transfer fee, but Barça forward can still join PSG

The 25-year-old Brazilian, whose purchase price from FC Santos in his home country was already among the highest in history and has since led to Barça falling foul of the Spanish tax authorities, travelled to Madrid yesterday to hand over his contract release fee.

But the Spanish premier league, or La Liga, rejected the cash, saying the player's payment breached UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

These rules came into effect six years ago, and forbid any club in Europe from spending €30m or more in excess of what they earn.

Paris Saint-Germain is funded by the State of Qatar, and La Liga chair Javier Tebas has criticised the club for 'financial doping', a form of 'unfair' competition used by State-supported teams that, according to Tebas 'could destabilise professional football in Europe'.

Neymar is still free to sign up with PSG, since in cases such as these the FIFA grants a provisional transfer.

UEFA will then consider whether FFP rules have been breached and, if this is thought to be the case, apply the relevant sanctions to the French club.

Players based in Spain have to buy their exit from their contracts by depositing the transfer fee with La Liga, which then hands over the cash to the club they are leaving.

Speculation has been rife about Neymar's possibly leaving Barça, and rumours of a record transfer fee were already circulating.

The unprecedented sum has been heavily criticised in several quarters.

Meanwhile, the BBC has run an article titled: “What can I buy for one Neymar?”