Three Barcelona stars Ivan Rakitic, Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti have stopped talking to captain Lionel Messi after the Argentine insisted the club to offload them in a swap deal for Paris Saint Germain (PSG) forward Neymar Jr.
The rift came to fore at Camp Nou after the summer transfer window closed on September 2, Fox Sports reported, citing Spanish news agency Don Balon.
PSG rejected several offers from Barcelona to sign Neymar in the summer and eventually, the Brazilian is having to stay in the French capital.
Messi wanted Barcelona to sign back Neymar on swap deals involving Rakitic, Umtiti and Dembele since the club was not willing to match PSG's asking price of €200million for the 27-year-old Brazilian.
According to the report in Don Balon, PSG repeatedly stressed that they would like to recoup most of Neymar's €220million transfer fee from 2017 and nothing else but with Barcelona not willing to pay the asking price in cash, Messi insisted that the club offload the Barcelona trio in a swap deal.
This alleged favouritism towards Neymar has riled up Rakitic, Umtiti and Dembele and they are no longer on talking terms with Messi, the report in Don Balon further suggested.
Meanwhile, Don Balon also reported that Real Madrid are ready to offer PSG €250million if the French club allows them to sign Neymar next summer.
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