Neymar Close in on World Record Transfer

Barcelona have granted Neymar permission to leave the club ahead of a potential £197m world-record transfer to Paris Saint-Germain. The huge revelation broke on Wednesday morning that the ex-Santos star was no long training alongside his team-mates.

However, La Liga’s governing body Liga de Futbol Profesional  have raised their head above the parapet to claim that they would not allow the transfer to go through due to Financial Fair Play rules.  the president of La Liga, was quoted by Sport as he explained why PSG’s reported £197m transfer for Neymar would be a non-starter if they truly were about to land the 25-year-old.

He stated: Although PSG didn't pay the clause yet we will denounce them. We advised the PSG president what we were going to do and we saw PSG's policy continue along the same line. They cannot make a number in which their commercial rights are greater than those of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Nobody believes this, Along with the rules about Financial Fair Play, Barcelona are thought to have entrusted a payment to the Spanish notary’s office that would see Neymar’s father, who is also his agent, receive a smaller signing-on fee for the new contract Neymar penned last October.

Meanwhile, the Copa del Rey winners are thought to be applying pressure to other European heavyweights to prevent PSG from acquiring the forward. The likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus and Real Madrid have been informally asked to intervene by Barcelona with the thinly veiled threat that their own stars could be poached by Ernesto Valverde’s side if Neymar departs. Liverpool would likely be the most obvious target for Barca with the club’s talisman Philippe Coutinho linked with an £80m move to Catalunya, despite the Reds’ insistence that he is not for sale.