Barcelona to make third Neymar bid to PSG and consider offering Dembele as transfer makeweight
BARCELONA are preparing a third bid to re-sign Neymar - and could tempt Paris Saint-Germain into a deal by throwing in Ousmane Dembele as a makeweight.
The La Liga champions have already had two offers rejected for the Brazilian superstar who is desperate to quit the French club.
They believe throwing the 22-year-old Frenchman into the pot would tempt PSG into accepting their terms and finally letting Neymar leave.
The 27-year-old forward is in the sights of both Barca and Real Madrid having made it clear he wants to quit Paris and return to Spain.
The Brazilian has spent two years in Ligue 1 since his shock £198million move from Barca, and having failed to help PSG conquer Europe the relationship between player and club is now fractious at best.
But PSG are in no mood to let Neymar leave on the cheap, even though Thomas Tuchel is desperate to finalise his squad for this season as soon as possible.
Barcelona's first offer of £73m plus Coutinho and Rakitic was swiftly knocked back because PSG did not fancy the players on the table.
The Spanish club then returned with a proposal to take him on loan for the season with the view to securing a permanent £173m transfer next summer, which again fell on deaf ears.
In the meantime, Real Madrid have also been making advances, coming up with their own player plus cash offers involving the likes of Gareth Bale and Keylor Navas.
So Barca are now coming back with another offer, which is reported to be the final one they are prepared to make - with Dembele the possible clincher.
The forward has struggled to produce his best form at the Nou Camp having suffered an injury early in his career with the club after his switch from Borussia Dortmund.
But he is still regarded as a major talent, and the prospect of linking him up in attack with Kylian Mbappe is one PSG could be interested in.