With Barcelona superstar Neymar on the verge of completing the most expensive transfer the world has ever seen, it’s bound to have consequences.
Paris Saint-Germain are going to pay the forward’s release clause of €222m to land him from Barcelona and that will leave a huge hole in the La Liga giant’s squad.
The legendary ‘MSN’ of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and indeed, Neymar will be no more and Barca will need to acquire a major talent to fill the gap, especially after watching Real Madrid won the La Liga title and Champions League trophy.
However, having £196 million plus whatever other funds they might have been wanting to use on Marco Veratti in the coffers means they can lure just about anybody to the club.
And it looks like the Catalan giants are aiming very, very high.
Although the likes of Paulo Dybala and Ousmane Dembele have been heavily linked in the media, according to The Sun, the La Liga giants have their eyes on two Premier League stars.
Obviously, it’s no secret that they have been chasing Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho this summer and have already had a £70 million offer rejected.
They see him as the long-term replacement to Andreas Iniesta, but will replace Neymar at Nou Camp remains to be seen.
According to report, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard is another player in the lime light over a switch to Barca.
In all fairness, it makes more sense Barca moving in for Dybala and Dembele. The former is more of a striker and number 10 than a left-sider whereas Dembele on the hand, prefers to operate from the right hand side.
While Messi could move inside, that still leaves a void space on the left that they would need to fill.
Hazard is the most natural replacement on the market if Barca wants to stick to their tiki-taka playing style, but how much would it take for Chelsea to part with their star man remains to be seen.
Barca are readying a £100m bid for the Belgian international, but if the Brazilian is worth £199 and the Blues are aware of how much the club made from the sale, chances they might reject the £100m offer is certain.
It’s a tricky situation for all concerned and Barca may well struggle more than expected to find a suitable replacement.