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Real Madrid on Monday night took the unusual step of issuing a formal statement to deny a report made on Spanish state television that the club had made a world-record €310m (£275m) offer for Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar.
TVE broadcast on Monday that the Bernabeu club had made the extraordinary offer for Neymar, looking to take advantage of Kylian Mbappe’s showing at the World Cup to convince them to part with the former Barcelona forward that they have so coveted over the past 12 months.
The report also claimed that Neymar was to be given a seven-year deal with €45m (£40m) per season but Madrid came out and forcefully denied the claims.
Brazil vs Mexico player ratings: World Cup 2018
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“After the information broadcast tonight by TVE about a supposed offer from Real Madrid to PSG and to the player Neymar, Real Madrid CF states that said information is absolutely false,” they said in a statement.
“Real Madrid has not made any type of offer to PSG nor the player.
“To Real Madrid it is surprising that the Spanish public broadcaster has been able to broadcast absolutely false information without anybody at the channel having made contact with anyone to confirm the supposed information that is easily proven false.”
Neymar moved to PSG from Madrid's rivals Barcelona last summer in world record deal worth €222m (£200m), signing a contract that runs until the end of the 2021/22 season.
But he has continuously been linked with a return to Spain with the Bernabeu touted as his most-likely destination, and with PSG needing to sell players in the coming weeks in order to meet Uefa's financial fair play (FFP) regulations, his departure would help the Parisians meet that demand.
Neymar is currently in Russia on World Cup duty with Brazil, and scored the opening goal in Monday's 2-0 victory over Mexico that sent the Selecao through to the quarter-finals, as well as assisting the second for Roberto Firmino. Brazil face Belgium on Friday with a place in the semi-finals on the line.
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