Five players who could replace Neymar at Barcelona following his world-record £198m move to Paris Saint-Germain

The money is now there to be spent for the Catalans with an extra £198m in the bank

Neymar 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.

Given the size of Neymar’s release clause – on top of the fact Barcelona were in negotiations for £80m Philippe Coutinho and £90m Marco Verratti – it can be safely assumed that the Catalan club now have a little under £400m to spend. So money is not an object in their pursuit of their replacements.

So who can replace a player with the profile, stature and talent of Neymar?

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.