Real President Florentino Perez Reportedly Prepared to Pay €300M for Neymar

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez is reportedly prepared to pay €300 million (£269 million) to sign Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain as he is "desperate" to find a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo. 

According to Alejandro Alcazar of Sport, Perez is holding out hope that PSG are sanctioned by UEFA for breaching financial fair play rules and are thus forced into selling Neymar. In that case, Real are ready to break the world-record transfer fee of £200 million to snap him up.

Real sold Ronaldo, 33, to Juve for £100 million earlier this summer but have yet to bring in a replacement for the Portugal international, who averaged 50 goals a season over his nine campaigns with the club.

The 26-year-old Neymar is one of the few players in football who could fill Ronaldo's boots at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Power Sport Images/Getty Images

He was immediately touted by many as a target for Los Blancos after Ronaldo's departure to Turin.

But with not long remaining until the transfer window closes in Spain on August 31, Real don't have a lot of time to negotiate a deal.

And PSG are unlikely to be willing to let the Brazil international go for any amount of money given they only signed him last summer from Barcelona for the aforementioned world-record sum.

UEFA's investigations into PSG's suspect sponsorship deals will reportedly come to a close at the end of August, and Alcazar noted Perez is ready to swoop for Neymar should the French champions receive severe sanctions.

It seems like a long shot, both that PSG will be punished enough that they are forced into selling Neymar or, even if they are, that Real Madrid will have the time to strike a deal before the transfer window closes.

But what does seem clear is that Perez's ambition of signing Neymar has not been dampened, and assuming no deal goes through in August, Real's interest in the former Barca man is likely to emerge again in January and beyond.