Barcelona have reacted angrily to a request by the state prosecutor to open proceedings against club president Sandro Rosell for the alleged misappropriation of funds in the 2013 purchase of Neymar.

The Brazil forward signed for the Spanish champions in the close season for €57.1m, of which €17.1m went to his former club Santos.

Barca club member Jordi Cases filed a complaint seeking clarification over what happened to the remaining €40 million and on Friday the state prosecutor asked the judge overseeing the case to open proceedings against Rosell.

“Barcelona Football Club wishes to express its most energetic indignation about the report by the state prosecutor on the signing of Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior,” Barca said yesterday.

“The operation to sign Neymar was complex, an example of business engineering, and we have repeatedly expressed the confidential nature of some of its agreements,” they added.

“Our rivals were prepared to conduct the same operation for much more money but (FC Barcelona) won through thanks to the skill and expertise of its negotiating team.

“This contractual complexity, labelled by the prosecutor in his report as ‘contractual simulation’, never constitutes a crime in itself.

“We believe the prosecutor is making a mistake in believing otherwise.”