A fresh development in the ‘Negreira case’ has been forthcoming this afternoon, and spells yet more bad news for all associated with Barcelona.
This subject of Barcelona’s infamous court case has of course dominated the Spanish football headlines since all the way back in March.
The Blaugrana, for their part, have maintained their innocence throughout, adamant that they have not broken any rules.
And yet, they have been formally charged by prosecutors, after being found guilty of paying out millions of euros to the vice-president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee, José María Enriquez Negreira.
No conclusion to the case appears to be in sight, but on Friday, a fresh, and potentially significant development, has come to the fore.
The info comes by way of El Mundo, who have obtained the testimony put before the Civil Guard by former La Liga referee José Luis González González, with regards to the Negreira case.
Asked for his take on why he feels that Barcelona would have forked over such considerable sums of money to José Negreira and his son, González González did not hesitate in pointing towards ‘sporting benefit’:
“I understand that they would want to get some sporting benefit,” he began. “José María would make them understand that he had some power over the referees.”
From here, González González – who acted as an official in La Liga for over three decades – doubled down, suggesting that Negreira ‘took advantage’ of his role as vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, ‘to obtain an economic benefit’.
He concluded:
“My opinion is that Enríquez Negreira reached an agreement with directors or members of FC Barcelona to benefit individually from these payments,” to “distribute it among them.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
