The European transfer window still remains open until August 31.

Unlike the Premier League, the rest of the continent decided to maintain the option of signing players once the season has already begun.

As such, the Neymar saga is still ongoing, with both Barcelona and Real Madrid now battling it out to sign the Brazilian from Paris Saint-Germain.

Los Blancos have maintained an interest in him ever since he departed for the French capital, while Barca have reportedly made a number of different bids to bring him back to Catalonia this summer.

But now it seems the Blaugrana have played their trump card, as Lionel Messi has now got involved and he is determined to convince Neymar to reject Real Madrid.

According to Marca, Messi actually phoned his former teammate and asked him to reject the advances of Barca's eternal rivals.

The two are still close friends and Messi holds huge sway at both Barca and in the eyes of Neymar.

Sadly for Real, they no longer possess a player with the pulling power of the Argentine superstar since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Brazilians Marcelo, Casemiro, Eder Militao and Vinicius Junior may need to all try their luck on the phone in the coming days...

Neymar's departure from PSG is all but inevitable this window after the Ligue 1 champions removed every image of the 27-year-old from their club shop.

The PSG fans also turned on him in their opening league game against Nimes, calling him a "son of a b**ch" and displaying numerous angry banners.

His time in France will not be remembered fondly and that record-breaking £198m transfer fee hasn't paid off.

But there's no doubting that if Neymar does re-join Barca this summer, their forward line will be the mot frightening in the history of the beautiful game.