PSG Name Neymar’s Price To FC Barcelona, Claim Reports

PSG have named their price to FC Barcelona for Neymar, reports have claimed.

According to ESPN’s Julien Laurens, it will take a sum of $167mn for the Catalans to be reunited with their former charge, representing a loss of almost $100mn on the world record $265mn that was paid to Barça for his services in 2017.

Constantly at loggerheads with his compatriot, it is alleged that sporting director Leonardo is prepared to let the 28-year-old go to the Blaugrana ‘or any other club’ and instead focus on keeping Kylian Mbappé, who is ‘non-transferable’.

The contracts of both stars set to expire in 2022, it is feared that the French World Cup winner could wind up at Real Madrid, where coach Zinedine Zidane and president Florentino Perez are known admirers.

Resigned to losing Neymar to his ex-employers, whom he tried to make a failed return to before the 2019-2020 season, surrendering the pair to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid separately would cause irreparable damage to the Parisiens and their global reputation.

Already having advanced to the quarter-finals in the competition, thanks to goals from Neymar in each leg of their last 16 clash against Borussia Dortmund, such a development would also hamper their chances of winning the Champions League.

Time of the essence, then, the current campaign could perhaps provide their strongest chance of lifting Europe’s big-eared trophy for many a year.

If accurate, the news will come as a relief to the La Liga leaders, who also plan to land Lautaro Martinez as a successor to the aging Luis Suarez.

The Argentine priced at $123mn over a special two-week window in July, Barça had expected to pay around $200mn for Neymar by utilizing the unique Webster Ruling valid only if he did not agree fresh terms with PSG.

Furthermore, Neymar’s price tag could be further reduced in a part-exchange deal, with the likes of Brazil teammate Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Rakitic, and right-back Nelson Semedo all fancied by the Qatari-backed outfit in past windows.