FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta will try to convince his head coach Xavi Hernandez that a move for ex-teammate Neymar is worth pursuing this summer according to SPORT.

L'Equipe reported that Neymar told current employers Paris Saint-Germain he wishes to leave in the current transfer window and rejoin Barca after six years with the Ligue 1 giants.

With cash-strapped Barca unable to afford a hefty transfer fee for a player they lost when PSG activated his €222 million ($243 million) release clause, nor afford wages which are $50 million a year according to Forbes' list of the World's Highest-Paid Athletes, the operation is pretty much a non-starter.

As reported by SPORT on Tuesday, however, a Saudi club could possibly buy Neymar and then loan him to the Blaugrana for a season.

Neymar is reluctant to move to the Middle East, but the prospect of playing for Barca again, who he signed for in 2013 from boyhood club Santos, could persuade him.

Also a sticking point is that Xavi does not want his former colleague forming part of his sporting project out of fear that he could be a disruptive influence in the locker room.

With young players such as Pedri and Gavi around, plus Neymar's 18-year-old compatriot Vitor Roque arriving in January 2024 if not this summer, Xavi has the same concerns that Pep Guardiola did in the late 2000s when deciding to offload partying Ronaldinho and now-sporting director Deco so they couldn't corrupt a budding Lionel Messi.

Joan Laporta was president back then and would have OK'd the sales of the two Brazil-born stars that were effective in Guardiola forming a sextuple winning outfit widely regarded as one of the best club sides of all time.

A decade and a half later, however, with control of the club yet again, Laporta will reportedly hold a meeting with Xavi to convince him that Neymar could prove useful to the cause.

While the 31-year-old's on-field talents are indisputable, Neymar could also boost Barca's brand during a time when they are expected to make losses of around €90 million ($98.5 million) by temporarily playing at the Montjuic Stadium while Camp Nou is being renovated.

On Tuesday evening, Barca play their first match at the new home in the Joan Gamper Trophy match against Tottenham Hotspur.