Footage has emerged of the Barcelona chief explaining the Brazilian's global marketing power was a major factor in their decision to sign him
Barcelona believed Neymar would be the biggest money-making machine in football since David Beckham, according to president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Footage emerged on Friday showing the Barca chief suggesting late former coach Tito Vilanova was the reason the club brought forward his transfer by a year, having initially planned to bring him in after the 2014 World Cup.
The video recording was taken during a hearing in the tax case relating to the Brazil international's signing, with Bartomeu and ex-president Sandro Rosell alleged to have acted fraudulently in the deal to bring him to Camp Nou from Santos.
In addition to insisting Rosell was the only man involved in negotiating the move, Bartomeu explained the Catalans saw an unmissable opportunity to use Neymar's magnetic pulling power, which he compared favourably to Beckham, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United midfielder.
"I always use the example of David Beckham," he told Judge Ruz in the legal proceedings video released by Cadena SER.
"We wanted to sign a high-profile footballer who would bring in lots of sponsors. Neymar isn't just a football player, he is a global superstar. We had never signed a player quite like him before.
" We wanted someone with Beckham's marketing pull; until Neymar came along, I had never seen anyone who matched him in terms of media attention."
Neymar had a topsy-turvy first season at Camp Nou, suffering with injury problems and a noticeable drop in form after the revelations of his transfer's true cost emerged.
However, superb World Cup performances last summer have been followed by an excellent 2014-15 campaign from the 23-year-old and Barca are in with a fighting chance of winning the treble.
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