Real Madrid are willing to pay Paris Saint-Germain £307million to persuade the French champions to forgo a release clause in Neymar’s contract.
A source close to Madrid told SunSport that PSG included a stipulation in the Brazilian’s deal that says he can leave for €300m (£263m) on September 1, the day after the transfer window closes.
That would see Neymar unable to represent another club until 2019.
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The clause was installed to ensure the 26-year-old remained at the Parc des Princes for at least 18 months after his €224m (then £198m) world-record move from Barcelona last summer.
But Real are unwilling to wait until January for their Galactico.
Neymar’s free-spending suitors would break the current transfer record by €124m (£109m) to get him before the new season begins.
The deal is also believed to be part of an even bigger commercial operation which would see Nike, who work with Neymar, replace Adidas as Real’s sponsor.
Changes at the Bernabéu would be likely should the move materialise.
There is uncertainty over whether Real would be capable of paying Neymar’s wages, likely to be around €45m-a-year (£39m), while also having Cristiano Ronaldo on the payroll.
Ronaldo, 33, is believed to be on €21m (£18m) and the two salaries would be impossible for the European champions to maintain.
Some quarters of club believe it was president Florentino Pérez’s obsession with signing Neymar that led Zinedine Zidane to resign last month.
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That Zidane, who led Real to three successive Champions League trophies, wanted to keep Ronaldo and knew Neymar’s arrival would put his future into doubt.
Pérez can get his man but he’ll throw cash at the Qatari-owned club to try and bag him before the start of next season.
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