Brazilian attacker, Neymar jr is on his way to Paris to become the world’s most expensive footballer, joining Paris Saint-Germain for a monumental £198m from Fc Barcelona.
The Brazilian superstar was given permission to miss training with the La Liga side on Wednesday morning to complete his move to the Parisians, with his agent already in the French capital awaiting his arrival.
The 25-year-old was tipped to take over the throne from Lionel Messi in the forthcoming years but now there needs to be another young pretender for the Argentine at the Nou Camp.
So who can replace a player with the profile, stature and talent of Neymar jr?
Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page with who The Independent understands are top of Barcelona’s list – as well as some other stars whose transfer could actually turn this into a good summer transfer window
1/5 Pablo Dybala (Juventus)
Pablo Dybala tipped to replace outgoing Neymar
Photograph: Dailymail
The other player revealed by The Independent to be top of the list of replacements is Dybala. The 23-year-old is one of the hottest young players on the planet and is tipped for a big future with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United also keeping tabs on him. However, Barca may use his relationship with Lionel Messi to persuade him to come to the Nou Camp. Dybala and his Argentine teammate are close friends off the pitch and often play video games together.
2/5 Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund)
Ousmanne Dembele tipped to replace outgoing Neymar jr
gettyimages
The Independent revealed on Tuesday that Dembele was at the top of Barcelona’s list of Neymar replacements. The 20-year-old looks like he is pushing for a transfer out of the German club after a training-ground bust-up with teammates further fuelled the rumours. He is a natural replacement for Neymar as a wideman with pace to burn and at five years his junior, he has bags of potential.
3/5 Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)
Phillipe Coutinho is been tipped to replace outgoing Neymar jr
photograph: Liverpool
Coutinho has already been the subject of one rejected bid from Barca this summer and expect them to go back in for another one. The Brazilian has been part of the standard Barcelona trademarked recruitment campaign with current and ex-pros saying how suited he is to the Catalan club. The Independent has already revealed that Coutinho’s people are “70 per cent” sure that the move will go ahead once Neymar leaves.
4/5 Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)
Antoine Griezmann also tipped to replace Neymar jr
Photograph: Goal.com
Catalan-based daily Sport revealed this week that Griezmann would be the man Barcelona will go for to replace Neymar. The Frenchman is a commercial goldmine as well as already being proven in La Liga as playing in a variety of attacking roles. His purchase would also weaken a rival but given the way he rejected Manchester United earlier in the summer, it would take a monumental offer to persuade him to leave.
5/5 Kylian Mbappe (Monaco)
Monaco’s French forward Kylian Mbappe has also been tipped to replace Neymar jr (Photo credit:VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)
The 18-year-old is the best young player around, with it seeming last week that Real Madrid had beaten the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool to his signature. However, with £198m in the bank now, on top of the rest of their existing transfer budget, Barcelona could blow Real out of the water with another world-record move. To take a player of Mbappe’s quality from under the nose of their biggest rivals could only be seen as a good transfer window, even with Neymar’s exit.
Culled from independent.co.uk
