Neymar da Silva Santos Junior was ditched by Nike for refusing to co-operate with an inquiry into accusations he tried to force one of its staff to perform a sex act on him, the sportswear giant has claimed.
The world’s most expensive football player yesterday took to Instagram to call the company a “liar” following the explosive allegation, while Neymar’s father accused it of “blackmail”.
Neymar was previously accused of rape by another woman in 2019 in a case that was dropped over a lack of evidence.
Nike, which split from the Paris St-Germain and Brazil striker in August having signed him when he was just 13, said it had “commissioned an independent investigation” after one of its employees complained he had tried to force her to perform oral sex in a New York hotel room in 2016.
It added: “Nike ended its relationship with the athlete because he refused to co-operate in a good faith investigation of credible allegations of wrongdoing by an employee.”
The company, which said it had been “deeply disturbed” by its employee’s claims, also announced that its investigation had been “inconclusive”.
It said the employee had initially reported the alleged incident to it in 2018 but wanted to avoid an investigation and keep it confidential.
Nike added: “As her employer, we had a responsibility to respect her privacy and did not believe it was appropriate to share that information with law enforcement or any third party without the employee’s consent.”
The company said that it had “acted immediately” when the alleged victim changed her mind.
It added: “We continue to respect the confidentiality of the employee and also recognise that this has been a long and difficult experience for her.”
In a Wall Street Journal article detailing the assault allegation, a spokeswoman for Neymar said he would “vigorously defend himself against these baseless attacks in case any claim is presented, which did not happen so far”.
She said Nike and Neymar – who signed for Puma two weeks after they split – had parted ways for commercial reasons.
The Brazilian branded claims to the contrary “absurd”, adding of the inquiry: “I wasn’t given a chance to defend myself.” (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]