Barcelona will have inserted the €222million release clause into Neymar's contract never expecting it to be triggered.

The Brazilian only signed his extension in October, though of course that means little nowadays.

It's being widely reported that the 25-year-old is interested in a move to Paris Saint-Germain so that he can finally break free from Lionel Messi's shadow.

Likewise, PSG are keen and will offer a staggering wage packet of £596,000 a week.

However hard Barca try and put the story to bed, it does seem to be gathering momentum.

As it stands, all that needs to happen is PSG need to activate his release clause and then they'll be free to negotiate with the player - whether the Blaugrana like it or not.

Ernesto Valverde can't have envisaged having this problem to contend with when he took the job a matter of months ago.

Would losing Neymar be a disaster? On the one hand, yes. He may have only come fifth in the 2016 Ballon d'Or rankings, but he's considerably younger than the likes of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and is expected to become one of the best, if not the best, players in the world.

Should Barca sell? 

At the same time, there are incentives for Barca to cash in. It's rumoured that the club are concerned by his party lifestyle and more importantly, imagine what they could do with the money.

In this summer's inflated market, €222million does not go as far as it ought to.

It could be invested in two huge targets, though, with the Daily Mail reporting that the La Liga runners-up would spend a good portion of it on Kylian Mbappe and Marco Verratti.

Real Madrid are the current favourites for the Monaco striker and it would cause a massive stir if he were to move to the Nou Camp instead.

The 18-year-old would have plenty of time to develop into Valverde's main man, though he'd certainly be under pressure to replace Neymar's 105 goals in 186 appearances.

Verratti seems the more likely, as of course, it would mean dealing with PSG. The Parisians are adamant the Italian is not for sale, but Unai Emery would no doubt be much happier to discuss his departure if he had just brought Neymar into his camp.

Would the Neymar sale be a good deal for Barca? Have your say in the comments.