PSG flex financial muscles with Rakitic approach

The French giants announced to the world that they were financially superior than the traditional power players in the global market when they smashed the world record transfer fee by buying Neymar from the Catalan club.

While the Spanish champions still have significant financial clout, as shown by the purchases of Ousmane Demebele and Philippe Coutinho for fees well in excessive of £100 million.

However, the club still has payments to make on both those deals, and so the offer of £112 million for Ivan Rakitic would help Barcelona with their immense financial commitments on wages and instalment payments.

It is likely that Rakitic will remain in Catalonia this season, but the fact that a club think they can poach one of Barça's top stars while he is at the peak of his powers shows that they don't have the financial power that they once had.