PSG and Barcelona are now negotiating over Neymar
The French club are in contact with the Catalans over Neymar's future
The idea is not that they undercut the release fee but that the deal is officially a transfer
Barcelona and PSG are now speaking over Neymar. After three years of cold war, PSG are now speaking with the Catalans. In recent summers the French club have ignored Barcelona's attempts to sign Thiago Silva, Marquinhos and this summer Marco Verratti. This time the interests are inverted and the side that lost 6-1 last time these sides met have now taken the reins.
SPORT have larned that PSG's director general Jean Claude Blanc has spoken to Barcelona to ask for an audience with the objective of signing Neymar Jr. Barcelona do not want any less than the 222m euros that is the release clause of the Brazilian winger.
So what do PSG want to negotiate? They want to make the deal an official transfer. A sale, like Figo to Real Madrid under Joan Gaspart's presidency.
From Barcelona's point of view it doesn't matter whether Neymar is signed as a transfer or by paying his own release fee and moving to the Ligue 1 side. However, from the point of view of Neymar and PSG, the situation is the opposite.
Paying the clause of 222m euros, the French tax authorities would understand that to be a sum of money as an advance salary, which would result in tax that could reach 100m euros. Ignoring Neymar's salary, the purchase would cost them over 300 million euros.
Both clubs have opened a permanent line of communication. With Neymar Jr and his agent and father Neymar Sr in the US, they have left PSG in charge of the negotiation to formalise his arrival in Paris.
Barcelona in principle are not opposed to selling Neymar for the release fee but in official transfer form, avoiding PSG overpaying - and possible charging more money themselves.
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