Confidential SPORT: Arda Turan & Neymar, fined

Neymar and Arda Turan have the ‘honour’ of being the only first team players this season to have had to pay a fine for breaking the disciplinary code which rules the dressing room. In any case, though, they’ve only had to pay the lightest fine which exists: 200 euros each for arriving late to a training session. 

There’s no doubt that Luis Enrique has more than enough reasons to be satisfied with the professionalism of his squad. At this stage of last season, seven players had been stung by fines. Adriano had paid 1000 euros for being late to training and to a game at Camp Nou. 

And speaking of Neymar and Turan, they’d also been fined 400 and 200 euros respectively at this point in the last campaign. 

Others seem to have learned their lesson and haven’t slipped up this season. Jordi Alba and Jeremy Mathieu are on that list and, curiously, so is Aleix Vidal, who last season was fined for being late to training. 

But the player who was forking out the most in fines last season was Gerard Pique. And he’s in the white so far this year. We’re talking about 3,200 euros for arriving late to five training sessions (fines double each time). 

Last summer the squad raised a total of 11,000 euros for a charity of their choosing. At this stage of the season, the pot was a 2,600 euros, this year it’s ‘only’ 400 euros. 

In any case, January tends to be the month when the most fines are paid. So, surely the pot will grow in the coming months.