Paris Saint-Germain have rejected a loan offer from Barcelona for wantaway striker Neymar, according to ESPN FC sources.
ESPN FC sources on Monday in Barcelona said that the Catalans were set to make a loan offer for Neymar with an option to buy next summer.
The Parisians were handed the offer to land on Tuesday but was soundly rejected, according to sources.
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PSG's Qatari owners have been disappointed by the attitude of Neymar this summer and are ready to let him leave, but only if they can recoup as much of the €222 million they spent to bring him to Paris in the summer of 2017.
There is also the belief in Paris that Barcelona will not be able to pay the transfer fee in one lump sum next summer should they make the move permanent and would ask to pay in annual installments, which is not ideal for the French club.
PSG sporting director Leonardo is trying to get as much money in cash as possible for Neymar, hoping to recoup at least €200m. The situation is further complicated by Philippe Coutinho's loan move to Bayern Munich, making a potential deal for Neymar harder to pull off as PSG had hoped the Barcelona midfielder could be a makeweight in some kind of cash-plus-players deal.
Neymar still wants to leave the Parc des Princes this summer and his preference is to go back to Barcelona where he played between 2013 and 2017.
Sources say the Brazilian superstar is trying to stay positive but he knows that a deal to see him returning to the Camp Nou is getting more and more difficult.
Neymar, who continues to train on his own away from the first team, has not played in either of PSG's two opening Ligue 1 matches so far this season, with Leonardo saying that he will not be involved until his situation is resolved.