Spain's La Liga rejects Neymar payment over PSG move, sources say

Spain's La Liga on Thursday rejected payment of a record-breaking release clause that would allow Neymar to leave Barcelona for Paris St Germain, a source from the national soccer league said. A group of lawyers representing Neymar visited La Liga in Madrid on Thursday to try to settle the transfer and pay the 222 million-euro ($263 million) break fee. It was not immediately clear whether La Liga's refusal to accept payment would put the brakes on the transfer.

La Liga have confirmed they rejected PSG's €222m cheque for Neymar today.

Here's what could happen next: https://t.co/BKHtQs8PyD pic.twitter.com/libOidqSsP— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) August 3, 2017

Spain's Marca newspaper reported that Neymar and his advisers would turn to FIFA, worldsoccer's governing body, requesting a provisional transfer to PSG. The Brazilian striker's agent Wagner Ribeiro had said on Wednesday that the French club was ready to foot the bill so that Neymar could be presented at PSG at the weekend. La Liga president, Javier Tebas, had already warned in an interview that Spain's league would not accept payment by PSG to trigger the release clause, saying it was potentially in breach of UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

La Liga explain why they have rejected PSG's £199m bid for Neymar.https://t.co/R9rIdL19N6 pic.twitter.com/NB7mufnLXg— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) August 3, 2017

Under the those rules, a club's wage bill must not exceed 70 percent of its revenue. UEFA, European football's governing body, told Reuters on Wednesday that had been no complaint received so far about PSG in this respect, adding that it would not block any potential deal in advance.