Neymar to PSG: All but done; Barcelona look for replacements

Barcelona had already confirmed about Neymar set to leave the club, amid reports suggesting he would be joining Paris Saint-Germain .

Picture for representation
Neymar Reuters

Brazilian superstar Neymar's move to PSG has been confirmed by Lionel Messi, who posted a goodbye message to his friendon social media site Instagram.

The Brazilian forward had earlier arrived at Barca's training ground on Wednesday to spend time with his teammates one last time before bidding farewell.

Earlier in the day, Barcelona had already confirmed about Neymar set to leave the club, amid reports suggesting he would be joining Paris Saint-Germain for a world record fee of €222m (£198m).

With reports suggesting that the deal is set to be announced by the Parisian club by the end of this week, Barcelona have already started looking at the future replacements for the talismanic Brazilian, who in his four seasons at the blaugrana club, made quite an impression.

Neymar scored more than a 100 goals for Barcelona in his time there, being part of an irresistible trio, teaming up with Messi and Luis Suarez at the top, helping them win everything there was to win including one champions league, two la ligas, three copas del rey, one club world cup, one UEFA super cup and two Spanish super cups.

With reports suggesting that the initial queries for Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho were rejected by the Merseyside club, who have no intention of selling their best player, the focus has almost entirely shifted to twenty year old Frenchman Ousmane Dembele, who currently plays for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund.

And these claims were fuelled even more yesterday as just like Neymar (who had clashed with new Barca arrival Nelson Semedo in Miami earlier this week), Dembele was involved in a similar training ground bust up with teammate and goalkeeper Roman Bürkiand had to be restrained by fellow teammates.

Barcelona are also looking at the possibility of getting the signatures of Juventus' Paulo Dybala, the young Argentinian having thoroughly impressed when the two sides met in the champions league last season. Paolo is considered to be a close friend of argentine Messi, even though Juventus are highly reluctant to sell their prized asset to anyone.

Whether there will be a power shift in the forefront of European football, only time will tell. But with Neymar opening doors for quite a few permutations across the continent, the next season of football promises to be nothing short of extraordinary.

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