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Barcelona permit Neymar to discuss £198m PSG move

Neymar was allowed to miss training on Wednesday after returning to the club to say goodbye to his teammates, who have grown tired of his drawn-out exit and feel it's best he leaves for PSG

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The Catalan club said the Brazilian informed the players on Wednesday “that he had the intention of leaving the club and seeking his future elsewhere, and the coach has given him permission to leave training”.

The 25-year-old's contract has a release clause set at 222m euros, which PSG are understood to be ready to pay.

The latest development comes two days after it emerged Barca were ready to push for a Financial Fair Play investigation if PSG signed Neymar

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That came after La Liga president Javier Tebas threatened, in an interview with Mundo Deportivo, a legal response against the former Ligue 1 champions if European football's governing body failed to take action.

He also said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi had been made aware of the Spanish league's intentions.

Neymar moved to Barcelona from Brazilian club Santos in 2013 for £48.6m, and signed a new five-year deal with the 24-time Spanish champions in 2016.

His representative Wagner Ribeiro, who on Wednesday tweeted he was in Paris, said last year that his client had been offered a tax-free £650,000 a week to sign for the French club.

He also said the forward "was close to a move to Manchester United".

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The Brazilian has scored 105 goals for Barcelona, helping them to two league titles, three Copas del Rey and a Champions League crown.

La Liga has indicated it would be reluctant to sign off a move for Neymar to PSG but it is understood Uefa’s regulations mean it does not have the authority to block the transfer.

In an interview with Mundo Deportivo at the weekend, the league’s president, Javier Tebas, said: “We will [make a complaint about PSG] because they infringe Uefa’s financial fair play rules and also the European Union’s competition rules.

“We will make a complaint to Uefa and if they don’t do anything we will take it to the competition tribunals in Switzerland and Brussels. And, from there, we don’t rule out going through the courts in France and Spain.”

He added: “Two months ago I met the president of PSG at La Liga’s offices and I told him what we were going to do and the reasons why. He was angry with me and said that he did not understand. We have a relationship [through the Qatari sports channel BeIn] for Spanish football but La Liga must defend our clubs in these situations.”

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Uefa has said it has not received a complaint but would look into the details of the transfer if it goes ahead. “PSG must respect financial fair play rules as do all other clubs in Europe,” it has said. “They must demonstrate that they do not have losses of more than €30m over three years.”

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