Despite having maintained his innocence during a preliminary hearing, Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu will almost definitely have to take to the stand again.

Judge Pablo Ruz is expected to conclude the current proceedings sometime this month, but Bartomeu will be summonsed once more when a date is set for a full trial.

During his preliminary testimony, Bartomeu pinned the blame for 'Neymar-gate' on both his predecessor, Sandro Rosell, and law firm Cuatrecasas, whom he accused of making numerous mistakes that have wound up with him being charged with tax fraud.

The questioning of Bartomeu dragged on for over three hours and he was grilled about each and every one of the seven contracts signed with Neymar and his family as part of the deal to bring the star to Barcelona.

The current president claimed that he wasn't involved in the negotiations for Neymar or any of the contracts drawn up, insisted that Sandro Rosell was responsible for the deal and denied that he is guilty of the charges of tax evasion against him because any offence would be attributable to a different year.

Bartomeu declared before Ruz charged with tax evasion corresponding to 2014, when the club supposedly failed to pay the taxman €2.8 million from the signing of the Brazilian player, who cost Barça a total of €94.8 million in 2013 rather than the sum of €57.1 million which the club initially claimed that it paid for him.

The current Camp Nou chief said that when he took over the club presidency, he signed the relevant papers because he approved them and gave instructions to Barça's tax consultants to work with zero risk and pay anything that might be owed to the Tax Agency, after which the club made a payment of €13.5 million to rectify the situation. This sum, he assured, more than covered any possible debts.