Premier League giants Manchester United are interested in signing former FC Barcelona stars Lionel Messi and Neymar according to El Nacional.

Messi becomes a free agent on June 30 when his Paris Saint Germain contract expires. Simultaneously, L'Equipe has previously reported that the Qatari-backed outfit will look to offload Neymar on loan if possible with an option to make a permanent purchase included in the deal.

Both players joined the Ligue 1 champions directly from Barca. In 2017, PSG broke the world transfer record by activating Neymar's €222 million ($239.5 million) release clause at Camp Nou which Messi fled on a free transfer in 2021 when the Catalans failed to offer him a new contract.

Two years later, Barca aren't interested in seeing Neymar don Blaugrana again but would love a reunion with their greatest ever player in Messi.

They are currently trying to put a viability plan together that proves to La Liga they can make the coup work financially, but Messi also has an offer from Al-Hilal in the Middle East which his father and agent Jorge Messi would prefer him to take according to Beteve.

On Wednesday, though, El Nacional reports that another top European outfit in Manchester United is interested in Messi and are convinced that they have "ace up their sleeve" to convince the World Cup winner that his next destination should be Old Trafford.

The Catalan newspaper's report comes a day after MARCA's on United also launching an operation to land Neymar.

With €500 million ($539 million) to spend according to El Pais, which will be given to them by their American owners the Glazers after possibly being taken over for around £6 billion ($7.43 billion), United can afford to welcome both players and pay their exorbitant wages.

This year, Messi finished second on Forbes' list of the World's Highest-Paid Athletes with $130 million split evenly between on-field and off-field earnings.

In 2022, Neymar was fourth on Forbes' list of the World's Highest-Paid Soccer Players with $32 million of his total $87 million earned on-field.

Given their advanced years of 36 (Messi) and 31 (Neymar), though, the pair might not be able to demand such astronomical pay in England.