Paris Saint-Germain are prepared to trigger FC Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele’s €100 million ($110 million) release clause this summer if Kylian Mbappe leaves them according to AS.

After Lionel Messi decided to snub a huge offer from Al-Hilal, opted not to wait for Barca to get their finances in order and chose Inter Miami as his next destination, Mbappe has become the lead star in the transfer window’s biggest soap opera.

In a similar vein to Messi, he has also stuck his nose up at a €200 million ($220 million) a season proposal from the Saudis after they launched a formal bid of €300 million ($330 million) for him on Monday.

Mbappe could still be offloaded soon, however, after being put up for sale and dropped from PSG’s preseason tour of the Far East for not extending his contract for another year until 2025.

According to MARCA, PSG and Real Madrid are negotiating the potential transfer through an intermediary with the Qatari-owned Ligue 1 giants telling their La Liga counterparts that it will cost €250 million ($275 million) to land the World Cup winner or something between €225-230 million ($248-253 million).

In the event that Mbappe does indeed switch allegiances ahead of the 2023/2024 season, AS reports that PSG will go in for his France national teammate Ousmane Dembele.

The winger known as ‘The Mosquito’ has a paltry €50 million ($55 million) release clause in Catalonia across June and July. As of August 1, though, this rises to a €100 million ($110 million) fee that is still pocket change for the moneyed Parisians.

Akin to Mbappe, Dembele is a free man as of mid-2024 after agreeing a two-year extension in 2022.

As revealed by the player himself in a recent interview with La Vanguardia, the Blaugrana are trying to get him to renew until June 2027 but are currently facing problems registering the new contracts of existing stars and fresh faces brought in on free transfers including ex-Manchester City skipper Ilkay Gundogan.

According to AS, Barca would be willing to negotiate the transfer with PSG which would leave their coffers replenished at a time when they have been priced out of approaches for the likes of Bernardo Silva and Joao Felix.

Selling him now reduces the risk of getting nothing for Dembele 11 months down the line, and there will be some sort of return on the €105 million ($116 million) plus add-ons transfer Barca completed to buy him from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 with the Neymar money from PSG.

Dembele would be a great loss for manager Xavi Hernandez who has tipped the 26-year-old to become one of the best widemen in the world.

Yet the Catalan coach has cover in Raphinha, and he might be able to bring in someone else capable of operating in that area of the park such as Silva.