Barcelona Eye Chelsea Star as Neymar Replacement as Earth-Shattering Transfer Edges Closer

As Barcelona prepare to lose Brazil star Neymar for a world record €222m in the coming days, the Catalan giants have turned to Chelsea forward Eden Hazard as a possible replacement.

Diario Gol report that the Belgium attacker is one of the players being considered by new Barca boss Ernesto Valverde as he looks to replace the 25-year-old Neymar, who finished fifth in last year's Ballon d'Or voting.

Ousmane Dembele, Paulo Dybala and Antoine Griezmann have all been named as possible replacements for the mercurial Brazilian, but the Spanish outlet claim that Hazard is also on the club's radar - and could be interested in a move after being indifferent to Real Madrid's advances.

It's said that while he holds a great deal of admiration for Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane, he would not hesitate to snub the advances of the reigning Spanish and European champions to move to the Nou Camp in a leading role.

Neymar looks set to finalise his move to Paris Saint-Germain before the end of the week for a fee of more than double the current world record, which currently stands at the €105m paid to Juventus by Manchester United for French midfielder Paul Pogba last summer.

Barcelona confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that the Brazilian was being allowed to miss training, having informed the club of his desire to arrange a move to the French capital.

The statement stressed that any club wishing to take him from the Nou Camp would still have to meet his release clause in full, as the Qatar-backed French side look set to do just that.