Barcelona are surprisingly planning to try and lure Kylian Mbappe to Camp Nou next summer by offering him a significantly higher signing-on bonus than that which is on the table at Real Madrid.
Mbappe has entered the final year of his contract and has his heart set on a move to Real, who tried to sign him before the current season started and are just waiting for the calendar to flip over to January before they can try and land him on a free transfer.
For a while now, it's felt more like a case of when than if Mbappe heads to Real, but according to AS, Barcelona are planning to throw a major spanner in the works.
While Barcelona are not exactly in the best financial position at the minute, there is a real belief among those in charge at Camp Nou that a major signing is possible next year. Big-money bids for the likes of Dani Olmo and Raheem Sterling have been discussed, but there are now talks about throwing that cash at Mbappe.
A signing-on bonus of €90m (£76m) could be offered to Mbappe, with Barcelona keen to blow Real's offer out of the water. For comparison, the Madrid side are 'only' believed to have earmarked €50m (£42m) and are yet to have shown any willingness to increase that offer.
Barcelona don't have that money available now - far from it - but the belief is that when the 2022/23 season begins, they will have that sort of balance in the bank and are prepared to throw it all at Mbappe.
Real are reluctant to go that high, but there are prepared to hand Mbappe a salary which eclipses that on offer in Catalonia, so Los Blancos may still see themselves in the lead in the race for the 22-year-old's signature.
Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu recently revealed that they were on the cusp of signing Mbappe in 2017, only for the majority of board members to favour a move for Ousmane Dembele instead.
Mbappe was open to the move then but may have changed his mind now. Real are high on his wish list and he has been focused on joining the Spanish side for what feels like an eternity.
However, Barcelona know better than most that, in football, money talks, and they will hope to convince Mbappe to take the bigger bonus to line up on the other side of El Clasico.
This article was originally published on 90min as Barcelona plan to outbid Real Madrid for Kylian Mbappe.
Source: www.90min.com